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Jan 10, 2014
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
repletion
ponderous
quondam
inimical
ignominy

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Words to describe people
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

ignominy

PRONUNCIATION:
(IG-nuh-min-ee, ig-NOM-uh-nee)

MEANING:
noun: 1. Public disgrace. 2. Disgraceful quality or conduct.

ETYMOLOGY:
Via French, from Latin ignominia. Ultimately from the Indo-European root no-men- (name) which also gave us name, anonymous, noun, synonym, eponym, renown, nominate, misnomer, and moniker. Earliest documented use: 1540.

USAGE:
"Nor is JAL likely to suffer the ignominy of an immediate slump in the share price, as Facebook did after its IPO, analysts say."
From Bloated to Floated; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 15, 2012.

See more usage examples of ignominy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944)

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