infamous
/ˈɪn.fə.məs/
infamous adjective: having a bad reputation; disreputable; notorious; unpleasant or evil; widely known, especially for something scornful.
Adjective
infamous (comparative more infamous, superlative most infamous)
- Having a bad reputation; disreputable; notorious; unpleasant or evil; widely known, especially for something scornful.
- He was an infamous traitor.
- She is infamous for perjury.
- Causing infamy; disgraceful.
- This infamous deed tarnishes all involved.
- Yes, Virginia, now Santa's doin' time
In a Federal prison for his infamous crime1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “The Night Santa Went Crazy”, in Bad Hair Day
- Subject to a judicial punishment depriving (the person) of certain rights (e.g. the rights to hold public office, exercise the franchise, receive a public pension, serve on a jury, or give testimony in a court of law).
- Punishable by death or imprisonment.
- No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger […]1791 December 15, James Madison et al, Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
infamous meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
infamous in Hindi
- having a bad reputation
- कुख्यात kukhyāt
- disgraceful — see also disgraceful, scandalous
- अपमानजनक apmānajnak
infamous in Tamil
- இகழ்தற்குரிய
infamous in Urdu
- infamous
- بدنام badnām
infamous in Bengali
- infamous, disgraceful, notorious
- অকীর্তিকর okirtikor
- infamous
- অখ্যাত ôkkhætô
More languagesFewer languages
- infamous in Malayalam
- കുപ്രസിദ്ധ
- infamous in Kannada
- ಕೆಟ್ಟಹೆಸರಿನ, ಹೆಸರುಕೆಟ್ಟ, ಅಪಕೀರ್ತಿಯ, ಕುಖ್ಯಾತ
- infamous in Gujarati
- કુખ્યાત kukhyāt
- infamous in Nepali
- बदनाम
- infamous in Thai
- ฉาว chǎao, ชื่อเสีย chʉ̂ʉ-sǐia
- infamous in Vietnamese
- khét tiếng
Examples of infamous in a sentence
- Soon we arrived at the Beijing Hotel—within shouting distance of the now infamous Tienanmen Square.1995, Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock, New York: Hyperion, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 188:
- These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains.2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United...
Synonyms of infamous
Forms of infamous
| comparative | more infamous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most infamous |
Origin of infamous
From Middle English enfamouse, in-fames, infamous, from Medieval Latin īnfāmōsus, from Latin īnfāmis; by surface analysis, in- + famous. Displaced native Old English unhlīsful.
Words formed from infamous
Questions about infamous
- What does infamous mean?
- Infamous means having a bad reputation; disreputable; notorious; unpleasant or evil; widely known, especially for something scornful.
- What is infamous in Hindi?
- Infamous in Hindi is कुख्यात (kukhyāt), अपमानजनक (apmānajnak). See Infamous meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use infamous in a sentence?
- Soon we arrived at the Beijing Hotel—within shouting distance of the now infamous Tienanmen Square.
- What part of speech is infamous?
- Infamous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce infamous?
- Infamous is pronounced /ˈɪn.fə.məs/.
Words near infamous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: infamous (page history and authors); infamous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بدنام (Urdu) (page history and authors); অকীর্তিকর (Bengali) (page history and authors); infamous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); infamous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); કુખ્યાત (Gujarati) (page history and authors); infamous (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-infamous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “infamous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/infamous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.