notorious
English
Etymology
First attested 1548, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin nōtōrius (“widely or fully known”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin nōtus (“known”), perfect passive participle of nōscō (“get to know”). Negative sense appeared in seventeenth century.
Pronunciation
Adjective
notorious (comparative more notorious, superlative most notorious)
- Widely known, especially for something negative; infamous.
- 1920 May 27, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Offshore Pirate”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published September 1920, →OCLC, part I, page 6:
- This is the last straw. In your infatuation for this man—a man who is notorious for his excesses, a man your father would not have allowed to so much as mention your name—you have reflected the demi-monde rather than the circles in which you have presumably grown up.
- 1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust, 2001 Perennial edition, page 30:
- The Hempshocks' sheep were notoriously the finest for miles around: shaggy-coated and intelligent (for sheep), with curling horns and sharp hooves.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
known widely and infamously
|