ignominious
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L337472 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌɪɡ.nə(ʊ)ˈmɪ.ni.əs/ / /ɪɡ.nəˈmɪ.ni.əs/
adj
Etymology: From Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -ious (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, typically an abundance).
- Especially of a person: deserving of disgrace or dishonour; contemptible, despicable.
- Causing or marked by disgrace or dishonour; disgraceful, dishonourable; also (loosely), humiliating, shameful.
“The time when the pseudovirtuous men and women die a painful and ignominious death has yet to come.”
“Hath he not tvvit our Soueraigne Lady here / VVith ignominious vvords, though Clarkely coucht? / As if ſhe had ſuborned ſome to ſvveare / Falſe allegations, to o'rethrovv his ſtate.”