infamia

In ancient Rome, (in-, "not", and fama, "reputation") was a loss of legal or social standing. As a technical term in Roman law, was juridical exclusion from certain protections of Roman citizenship, imposed as a legal penalty by a censor or praetor. In more general usage during the Republic and Principate, was damage to the esteem (aestimatio) in which a person was held socially; that is, to one's reputation. A person who suffered was an (plural ).

==As a legal penalty== Infamia was a form of censure more disgraceful than ignominia, which in its technical sense resulted from the censors' nota censoria, a figurative branding or marking of a citizen that included removal from the senate or other reduction of status. Ignominia, however, was an impermanent status that could be ameliorated, for instance by paying off a debt. A debtor who could not meet his obligations might eventually suffer infamia, a penalty that legislation passed under Julius Caesar sought to mitigate through payment options.