DictionaryAI

famous

FAY-muhs/ˈfeɪ.məs/

Verbfamouses, famousing, famoused

2 meanings of famous

Practice

  1. 1
    well knownadjective
    Known about by very many people, often because of an achievement or some notable quality.

    The author grew famous for her novels set in small coastal towns.

    Few inventions made their creators as famous as the telephone did.

    UsageUsually famous for a thing and famous as a role: famous for its cake, famous as a singer. Compare with more famous.

    Note

    By Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great it already works as it does now: "thy fall shall make me famous through the world."

  2. 2
    make knownverbobsoletetransitive
    To make widely known; to bring renown to a person, place, or deed.
    Note

    A verb made straight from the adjective, with no suffix, and now obsolete. Shakespeare's Sonnet 25 speaks of a painful warrior famoused, made famous, for his feats in battle, where modern English says made famous or celebrated.

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Origin

Latin fāmōsus came into English through Anglo-Norman famous and Middle English famous; it amounts to fame plus the suffix -ous, and it replaced the native Old English word hlīsful.