ignominious

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪɡ.nəˈmɪ.ni.əs/ UK /ˌɪɡ.nə(ʊ)ˈmɪ.ni.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #55377

Meanings

1

adj
Causing or deserving public shame and dishonour.

The team suffered an ignominious defeat in the first round.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · causing or deserving public... disgraceful dishonourable humiliating shameful

Word family

Derived forms ignominiouslyignominiousnessunignominious

Related forms ignominy

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

ignominious retreat
A withdrawal that causes shame or humiliation.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -iou…

ignominious Middle English ignominieux Middle French ignōminiōsus Latin *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# ignominious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪɡ.nəˈmɪ.ni.əs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌɪɡ.nə(ʊ)ˈmɪ.ni.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 55377

## Meanings
1. Causing or deserving public shame and dishonour.

## Examples
- The team suffered an ignominious defeat in the first round.

## Derived Forms
- ignominiously
- ignominiousness
- unignominious

## Related Forms
- ignominy

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ignominious
- Root: ignominieux
- Root: ignōminiōsus
- Root: *h₁nómn̥

## Etymology
From Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -iou…

## AI Etymology
Ignominious is from Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -iou… The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include ignominious (Middle English), ignominieux (Middle French), ignōminiōsus (Latin), and *h₁nómn̥ (Proto-Indo-European). Current senses include causing or deserving public shame and dishonour.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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