opprobrium
Syllables: op·pro·bri·um/əˈpɹəʊ.bɹɪ.əm/US/əˈpɹoʊ.bɹi.əm/
opprobrium noun: a cause, object, or situation of disgrace or shame.
Noun
opprobrium (countable and uncountable, plural opprobriums or opprobria)
- A cause, object, or situation of disgrace or shame.
- As there are certain malignant diseases which have been denominated the opprobria of medicine, so there are particular maladies of our social condition, which may be considered the opprobria of legislation. Amongst the most inveterate of these are the poor laws.1828 May, “Poor Laws—Emigration”, in The London Magazine (Third Series), number II, London: […] [William Clowes] for the proprietors, and published by their agent, Henry Hooper, […], →OCLC, page 227
- It was not that he was in danger of legal punishment or of beggary: he was in danger only of seeing disclosed to the judgment of his neighbours and the mournful perception of his wife certain facts of his past life which would render him an object of scorn and an opprobrium of the religion with...1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXI, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 313
- Synonyms:
- opprobry
- Disgrace or bad reputation arising from exceedingly shameful behaviour; ignominy.
- Let me add that it is the great deſideratum, by which alone this form of government can be reſcued from the opprobrium under which it has ſo long labored, and be recommended to the eſteem and adoption of mankind.1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number X. The Same Subject Continued [The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Faction and Insurrection].”, in The Federalist: A Collection...
- I am content to suffer alone, while my sufferings shall endure: when I die, I am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding...
- Scornful contempt or reproach; (countable) an instance of this.
- […]from that strict rectitude in which I have been accustomed to walk and to view my actions, and which, notwithstanding the unjust opprobrium cast upon me, I find to be an invincible support and shield.1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter III, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 33
- Some Johnny with brains produces a hypothesis. Everybody calls him a rotter at first. But he remains calm in the face of opprobrium.1908 August, George A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter VII, in Spanish Gold, 2nd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published September 1908, →OCLC, page 76
- Synonyms:
- blame, castigation, censure, derision, invective, opprobry, contempt, despect, despiciency, despisal
- Behaviour which is disgraceful or shameful.
opprobrium meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
opprobrium in Urdu
- بےعزتی, لعنت, توہین, ذلت
opprobrium in Bengali
- তীব্র নিন্দা, কলঙ্ক
opprobrium in Malayalam
- vituperation, vilification, abuse
- നിന്ദ, നിന്ദനം, അപകീർത്തി, ദുർഭാഷണം, വിഭാഷണം, ദോഷാരോപം
- dishonour, disgrace, shame
- മാനഹാനി, മാനക്കേട്, നാണക്കേട്, തേജോഭംഗം, അപമാനം, പരാഭവം
opprobrium in Kannada
- ಒಚ್ಚಿ, ಒಚ್ಚಯ, ಕೆಟ್ಟಹೆಸರು
More languagesFewer languages
- opprobrium in Punjabi
- ਬਦਨਾਮੀ badnāmī
Examples of opprobrium in a sentence
- From that day these outrages have never ceased, until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of the civilized world.1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, “Lodge 341, Vermissa”, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y....
- Virgin [Atlantic] won't pay a penny in fines and actually emerges as a winner, since all the opprobrium of the rule-breach has been heaped on BA [British Airways].2007 August 1, Robert Peston, quotee, “BA’s Price-fix Fine Reaches £270m”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 16 Apr 2021:
Synonyms of opprobrium
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of opprobrium
| plural | opprobriums |
|---|---|
| plural | opprobria |
Origin of opprobrium
PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Latin opprobrium, obprobrium (“a reproach, a taunt; disgrace, shame; dishonour; scandal”, noun), from opprobrō, obprobrō (“to reproach, upbraid; to taunt”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Opprobrō, obprobrō are derived from ob- (prefix meaning ‘towards’) + probrum (“disgrace, shame; abuse, insult”, noun) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward; toward”) + *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”), in the sense of something brought up to reproach a person). The plural form opprobria is borrowed from Latin opprobria. Cognates * French opprobre * Italian obbrobrio * Portuguese ouprobio (obsolete), opróbrio * Spanish oprobrio (obsolete), oprobio
Questions about opprobrium
- What does opprobrium mean?
- Opprobrium means a cause, object, or situation of disgrace or shame.
- What is opprobrium in Urdu?
- Opprobrium in Urdu is بےعزتی, لعنت, توہین. See Opprobrium meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use opprobrium in a sentence?
- From that day these outrages have never ceased, until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the opprobrium of the civilized world.
- What part of speech is opprobrium?
- Opprobrium is a noun.
- How do you pronounce opprobrium?
- Opprobrium is pronounced /əˈpɹəʊ.bɹɪ.əm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of opprobrium?
- The plural of opprobrium is opprobriums.
Words near opprobrium in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: opprobrium (page history and authors); opprobrium (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opprobrium (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); opprobrium (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); opprobrium (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬਦਨਾਮੀ (Punjabi) (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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