notorious
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: 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”)
Inflected forms:
form: more notorious
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most notorious
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Senses with an unfavourable connotation.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
You notorious ſtinkardly bearevvard, do's my breath ſmell?
But Rutilus, is ſo Notorious grovvn, / That he's the common Theme of all the Tovvn.
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, […]
Then he had gone to Oxford, had entered himself at Magdalene, and had soon become notorious there for every kind of vice.
He found out that she had belonged to a profession whose most notorious member for our generation was Mrs. Warren, and having made a competence she now lived the quiet life of the bourgeoise.
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.
Simon Forman was notorious in his day, and was a man of many reverses.
But he [William Bulger] forfeited this legacy long ago, shedding it in exchange for intense loyalty to another Boston power broker, his older brother, James (Whitey) Bulger, the city's notorious crime boss.
This is the Angola Prison Rodeo, a 53-year-old tradition at the biggest and most notorious prison in Louisiana, the incarceration capital of the world.
The U.S. is notorious for spending oodles on health care, but health care has little to do with stopping the spread of infectious diseases.
gloss: Senses with an unfavourable connotation.
pos: adj
examples: Sir, ſir, I ſhall haue Lavv in Epheſus, / To your notorious ſhame, I doubt it not.
[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: […]
[H]e vvas Charg'd upon Oath, vvith having been a Party in a notorious Robbery, Burglary, and Murther, committed ſo and ſo, in ſuch a Place, and on ſuch a Day.
gloss: Senses with a favourable or neutral connotation.
pos: adj
examples: Lett him [God] notorious make, / That in good part he did thy offrings take.
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 memorable.
Of Cham is the name Chemmis in Aegipt; and Ammon the Idol and Oracle ſo notorious.
Mrs. Fl[eece'em]. Hymn? then the Doctor ſings, I preſume. / Mrs. Sim[ony]. Not a better pipe at the playhouſe; he has been long notorious for that: Then he is as chearful, and has ſuch a choice collection of ſongs!
gloss: Senses with a favourable or neutral connotation.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
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 resentment into our heart, a harsh word into our mouth about him.
[T]he failing in any one of theſe [members of the body] vvould cauſe Irregularity in the Body, and in many of them ſuch as vvould be very notorious.
gloss: Senses with a favourable or neutral connotation.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: 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; […]
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 the moſt publike and notorious manner, that could be deuiſed, ſhevved vnto the people: In part to diſcharge the King of the Enuie of that opinion and bruite, hovv he had beene put to death priuily in the Tovver; […]
They [legislative ordinances] were in some instances promulgated by the king in parliament. Others were sent thither for registration, or entry upon their records. This formality was by degrees, if not from the beginning, deemed essential to render them authentic and notorious, and therefore indirectly gave them sanction and validity of a law.
Synonyms: disreputable
ill-famed
infamous
nefarious
niddering
nidering
nithing
notorious
Antonyms: unnotorious
unfamous
acclaimed
celebrated
distinguished
eminent
prestigious
prominent
Related words: notoriety
notorily
notory
Derived words: notorify
notoriously
notoriousness
unnotorious
open and notorious
Translations: