infamous
- 1Widely known for bad or evil deeds; having a thoroughly bad reputation.
The dark mirror of celebrity: renown earned through wrongdoing rather than achievement.
The dictator remains infamous for the brutal way he silenced critics.
That stretch of highway is infamous among drivers for its deadly accidents.
Similarnotorious, disreputable
Oppositerenowned, celebrated, illustrious, esteemed
Note
Not the opposite of famous, whatever its shape suggests. It came into English through Medieval Latin īnfāmōsus, from Latin īnfāmis, and it displaced the native Old English unhlīsful. An infamous traitor is well known, but for the wrong thing. The reason follows with for (infamous for perjury). Now infamous marks a reputation lately earned, as when Leonard Nimoy writes of 'the now infamous Tienanmen Square.'
- 2Causing infamy; bringing disgrace and public shame upon those responsible.
The general's infamous betrayal cost thousands of soldiers their lives.
History records the massacre as one of the most infamous deeds of the war.
Similarshameful, disgraceful, notorious, ignominious, heinous
Oppositehonorable, noble, admirable, glorious
Note
Here the disgrace sits in the act rather than in a reputation. An infamous deed or crime is one that brings shame on whoever commits it, so the word attaches to nouns for actions: deed, crime, betrayal. The "notorious" meaning judges a person or place by what they are known for. This one judges the thing done.
- 3Stripped by court sentence of certain civil rights, such as holding public office, voting, serving on a jury, or testifying in court.
Once convicted of perjury, he was rendered infamous and barred from giving testimony.
An infamous person could neither vote nor stand for public office.
Note
A legal status, not a matter of opinion. In the old law of England, a court sentence made a person infamous, and the label carried concrete losses: no vote, no public office, no seat on a jury, no testimony. It applied to people only. For offenses, see the "punishable crime" meaning. Write of it as history, as in 'a perjurer was rendered infamous.'
Less common meaning
- 4Of a crime or offense, serious enough to be punishable by death or imprisonment.
Treason was long regarded as an infamous crime, punishable by death.
The old statute listed several infamous offenses that carried lengthy prison terms.
Note
A crime's possible sentence, not its notoriety, is what this sense measures. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1791) says no one shall answer 'for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime' without a grand jury. Modern readers easily hear 'notorious' there. The archaic meaning concerns the punishment the crime could bring, death or prison, however little anyone had heard of it.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English enfamouse (also in-fames, infamous), from Medieval Latin īnfāmōsus, from Latin īnfāmis; by surface analysis it breaks down into in- plus famous. It displaced the native Old English word unhlīsful.