notorious
Syllables: no·tor·i·ous/nə(ʊ)ˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əs//nəˈtɔ.ɹi.əs/
notorious adjective: of a person or entity: generally or widely known for something negative; infamous.
Adjective
notorious (comparative more notorious, superlative most notorious)
- Of a person or entity: generally or widely known for something negative; infamous.
- Such Men theſe had, to Miſchiefe vvholly bent, / In Villanie, notorious for their skill, / Diſhoneſt, deſp'rate, mercileſſe, and rude, / That dar'd into Damnation to intrude.1630, Michael Drayton, Poems: […], London: […] Willi[am] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, →OCLC, stanza 28, page 109
- You notorious ſtinkardly bearevvard, do's my breath ſmell?1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby...
- Of an act, situation, etc.: blameworthy in an obvious and offensive way; blatant, flagrant.
- Sir, ſir, I ſhall haue Lavv in Epheſus, / To your notorious ſhame, I doubt it not.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- [T]he Apoſtle by the vvord diſorderly, does not mean perſons that live in any courſe of notorious ſin; but by diſorderly, he means Ignavos, Inutiles, idle and unprofitable perſons; perſons of no uſe to the Church, or to the State: […]1626 May 9 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “A Sermon Preached to the Household at White-hall, April 30. 1626. Sermon VIII.”, in XXVI. Sermons (Never before Publish’d) Preached by...
- Generally or widely known; of common knowledge; famous or well-known.
- Lett him [God] notorious make, / That in good part he did thy offrings take.a. 1587 (date written), Philip Sidney, “Psalm XX. Exaudiat te Dominus.”, in The Psalmes of David […], London: From the Chiswick Press by C[harles] Whittingham, for Robert Triphook, […], published...
- Some vvill blame me for that I have omitted this and that tovvne and Caſtle, as though I purpoſed to mention any but ſuch as vvere moſt notorious, and vvere mentioned by ancient authours. Neither verily vvere it vvorth the labour once to name them, vvhen as beſide the naked name there is nothing...1610, William Camden, “The Author to the Reader”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […]...
- Clear, evident, obvious.
- For the elder ſort of them are rough, hard, thinne and leane ſcragges, ſtatuelinges, lothſome to touch and to looke vpon, ſomevvhat long, nothing but skinne and bone, yet very notorious and goodly too ſee to, in regard of their grauity, hoarenes and aunciency.1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Description and Differences of Bees”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 66
- It is not every possibility, every seeming, every faint show or glimmering appearance, which sufficeth to ground bad opinion or reproachful discourse concerning our brother: the matter should be clear, notorious, and palpable, before we admit a disadvantageous conceit into our head, a distasteful...a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “Sermon XVII. The Folly of Slander.”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume II, London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830, →OCLC, pages 20–21
- Generally or widely knowable.
- But what hope is there to haue fidelitie well kept amonge us in promises and bargaynes, whan for the breache therof is prouided no punisshement, nor yet notorious rebuke; […]1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Promise and Couenant”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson]...
- The King therefore firſt called his Councell together at the Charter-houſe at Shine. VVhich Councell vvas held vvith great ſecrecie, but the open Decrees thereof, vvhich preſently came abroad, vvere three. […] The next vvas, that Edvvard Plantagenet, then Cloſe-priſoner in the Tovver, ſhould be in...1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
Adverb
notorious (comparative more notorious, superlative most notorious)
- Synonym of notoriously.
- Synonyms:
- notoriously
notorious meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
notorious in Hindi
- generally or widely known for something negative — see also infamous
- बदनाम badnām, कुख्यात kukhyāt
notorious in Marathi
- कुख्यात
notorious in Urdu
- انگشت نما, بدنام, فاش, نامی
notorious in Bengali
- ব্যাপকভাবে পরিচিত, কুখ্যাত, কুপ্রসিদ্ধ
More languagesFewer languages
- notorious in Telugu
- అపఖ్యాతి పాలైనది, అపఖ్యాతి పాలైన, అపఖ్యాతి పాలైంది
- notorious in Malayalam
- കുപ്രസിദ്ധിയുളള, കുപ്രസിദ്ധമായ, അപകീർത്തികരമായ
- notorious in Kannada
- ಕುಖ್ಯಾತ, ಕುಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ, ಕೆಟ್ಟಹೆಸರಾಂತ, ಅಪಕೀರ್ತಿ ಪಡೆದಿರುವ
- notorious in Punjabi
- ਬਦਨਾਮ
- notorious in Gujarati
- જાણીતું jāṇītũ
- notorious in Arabic
- مشنوع
- notorious in Vietnamese
- khét tiếng
Examples of notorious in a sentence
- But Rutilus, is ſo Notorious grovvn, / That he's the common Theme of all the Tovvn.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, William Congreve, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Eleventh Satyr”, in The Satires...
- A vvoman of quality, notorious for her gallantries, though as ſhe ſtill lived vvith her huſband, nobody choſe to place her in the claſs vvhere ſhe ought to have been placed, […]1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation”, in A Vindication...
- Then he had gone to Oxford, had entered himself at Magdalene, and had soon become notorious there for every kind of vice.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown...
- He found out that she had belonged to a profession whose most notorious member for our generation was Mrs.1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLVII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 235:
Synonyms of notorious
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of notorious
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more notorious |
| superlative | most notorious |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more notorious |
| superlative | most notorious |
Origin of notorious
From Late Middle English notoryous, from Medieval Latin nōtōrius (“evident, known; famous, well-known; infamous”), from Latin nōtus (“known, recognized; familiar, widely known; famous, well-known; infamous”) + -tōrius (suffix forming adjectives). Nōtus is the perfect passive participle of nōscō (“to become acquainted with or learn about (something); (rare) to be familiar with, recognize”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know; to recognize”). cognates * Catalan notori (“well-known”) * Middle French notoire (Anglo-Norman notoire, notoir, notore, notorie, modern French notoire (“notorious; well-known”)) * Italian notorio (“notorious; well-known”) * Portuguese notorjo (obsolete), notório (“illustrious; open, public; notorious”) * Spanish notorio (“apparent, clear, obvious; well-known”)
Words formed from notorious
Words that rhyme with notorious
- glorious
- uproarious
- censorious
- laborious
- memorious
- inglorious
- unglorious
- victorious
- amatorious
- deletorious
- desultorious
- maritorious
12 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about notorious
- What does notorious mean?
- Notorious means of a person or entity: generally or widely known for something negative; infamous.
- What is notorious in Hindi?
- Notorious in Hindi is बदनाम (badnām), कुख्यात (kukhyāt). See Notorious meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use notorious in a sentence?
- But Rutilus, is ſo Notorious grovvn, / That he's the common Theme of all the Tovvn.
- What part of speech is notorious?
- Notorious can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce notorious?
- Notorious is pronounced /nə(ʊ)ˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əs/ (UK).
Words near notorious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: notorious (page history and authors); notorious (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); notorious (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); notorious (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); notorious (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); notorious (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); notorious (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); notorious (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); જાણીતું (Gujarati) (page history and authors). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-notorious.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-notorious.wav.
Cite this entry: “notorious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/notorious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.