INFAMY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does infamy mean? 

• INFAMY (noun)
  The noun INFAMY has 2 senses:

1. a state of extreme dishonor

2. evil fame or public reputation

  Familiarity information: INFAMY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFAMY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of extreme dishonor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

infamy; opprobrium

Context example:

the name was a by-word of scorn and opprobrium throughout the city

Hypernyms ("infamy" is a kind of...):

dishonor; dishonour (a state of shame or disgrace)

Antonym:

fame (the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed)

Derivation:

infamous (known widely and usually unfavorably)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Evil fame or public reputation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("infamy" is a kind of...):

discredit; disrepute (the state of being held in low esteem)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "infamy"):

ill fame; notoriety (the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality)

Antonym:

fame (favorable public reputation)

Derivation:

infamous (known widely and usually unfavorably)

 Context examples 

Did you observe, nephew, that these four villains spoke in Warr’s hearing of the master who was behind them, and who was paying them for their infamy?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Approach me again, you—you—you HEEP of infamy,” gasped Mr. Micawber, “and if your head is human, I'll break it. Come on, come on!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Whatever he might afterwards persuade her to, it was not on her side a scheme of infamy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But he, who for the first time was becoming conscious of himself, was in no condition to judge, and he burned with shame as he stared at the vision of his infamy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Have you seen that awful den of hellish infamy—with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I had the curiosity to inquire in a particular manner, by what methods great numbers had procured to themselves high titles of honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined my inquiry to a very modern period: however, without grating upon present times, because I would be sure to give no offence even to foreigners (for I hope the reader need not be told, that I do not in the least intend my own country, in what I say upon this occasion,) a great number of persons concerned were called up; and, upon a very slight examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot reflect upon it without some seriousness.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Yet what assurance have we, said the prince, that this is not some varlet masquerading in his master's harness, or some caitiff knight, the very touch of whose lance might bring infamy upon an honorable gentleman?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was to be decided whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings: one a smiling babe full of innocence and joy, the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

To be disgraced in the eye of the world, to wear the appearance of infamy while her heart is all purity, her actions all innocence, and the misconduct of another the true source of her debasement, is one of those circumstances which peculiarly belong to the heroine's life, and her fortitude under it what particularly dignifies her character.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)