NOTORIOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does notorious mean? 

• NOTORIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective NOTORIOUS has 1 sense:

1. known widely and usually unfavorably

  Familiarity information: NOTORIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NOTORIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Known widely and usually unfavorably

Synonyms:

ill-famed; infamous; notorious

Context example:

the infamous Benedict Arnold

Similar:

disreputable (lacking respectability in character or behavior or appearance)

 Context examples 

His father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist, who ruined himself on the turf.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was not known anywhere outside of Oakland, and in Oakland, with the few who thought they knew him, he was notorious as a red-shirt and a socialist.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And those who do know, whisper that the hunters, while excellent shots, were so notorious for their quarrelsome and rascally proclivities that they could not sign on any decent schooner.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This and a bellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of the notorious Professor Challenger.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott’s conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to find any satisfactory cause of death.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was so notorious in the house, that the masters and head-boys took pains to cut these marauders off at angles, and to get out of windows, and turn them out of the courtyard, before they could make the Doctor aware of their presence; which was sometimes happily effected within a few yards of him, without his knowing anything of the matter, as he jogged to and fro.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This lord, in conjunction with Flimnap the high-treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious on account of his lady, Limtoc the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against you, for treason and other capital crimes.

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

It was a novel experience to find himself head-lined, on the first page at that; and he was surprised to learn that he was the most notorious leader of the Oakland socialists.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It is all part and parcel of the same system of quackery and nonsense, for which I regret to say that the writer is notorious.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the main reason lies in the one fact, which is notorious to everyone, and that is that Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)