Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

infamy

 
(ĭn'fə-mē) pronunciation
n., pl., -mies.
  1. Evil fame or reputation.
  2. The condition of being infamous.
  3. An evil or criminal act that is publicly known.

[Middle English infamie, dishonor, from Old French, from Latin īnfāmia, from īnfāmis, infamous. See infamous.]


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

n

Definition: shameful, bad reputation
Antonyms: dignity, goodness, honor, innocence, morality, righteousness, virtue

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Notoriety; condition of being known as possessing a shameful or disgraceful reputation; loss of character or good reputa- tion.

At common law, infamy was an individual's legal status that resulted from having been convicted of a particularly reprehensible crime, rendering him or her incompetent as a witness at a trial. Infamy, by statute in certain jurisdictions, produces other legal disabilities and is sometimes described as civil death.

Word Tutor:

infamy

Top
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A very bad reputation, disgrace.

pronunciation He who can live in infamy is unworthy of life. — Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), French playwright.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'infamy'

Top
Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to infamy, see:

Infamy, in common usage, is notoriety gained from a negative incident or reputation (as opposed to fame). The word stems from the Latin infamia, antonym of fama (in the sense of "good reputation").

Infamy is a term of art in Roman Catholic Canon Law. The remainder of this article discusses infamy as defined by Canon Law. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, infamy in the canonical sense is defined as the privation or lessening of one's good name as the result of the bad rating which he has, even among prudent men. It constitutes an irregularity, i.e. a canonical impediment which prevents one being ordained or exercising such orders as he may have already received.

There are two types of infamy, infamy of law (infamia juris) and infamy of fact (infamia facti).[1]

Infamy of law

Infamy of law is contracted in one of three ways. Either the law itself attaches this juridical ineligibility and incapacity to the commission of certain crimes, or makes it contingent upon the decision of a judge, or finally connects it with the penalty imposed by him. This kind of infamy is incurred chiefly by those guilty of duelling (whether as principals or seconds), rape (as likewise those who co-operate in it), attempt to marry during the lifetime of the actual consort, heresy, real simony, etc. Infamy of law may be removed either by canonical purging or by application to the Holy See.

Infamy of fact

Infamy of fact is the result of a widespread opinion, by which the community attributes some unusually serious delinquency, such as adultery or the like, to a person. This is more of an unfitness than an irregularity properly so called, unless sentence in court has been pronounced. It ceases therefore when one has shown by a change of life extending over a period of two or probably three years that his repentance is sincere.

A crime consisting in acts which society not only forbids but also considers as highly immoral and particularly dishonoring, as defined (variously) in certain legal systems, as in Poland; in its origin, in Ancient Rome, infamia was the mark of disapproval of the censors on moral grounds - often such 'legal immorality' is largely defined according to the state - or de facto dominant religion.

In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth infamy (infamia) was a more severe form of exile sentence. A noble who has been sentenced to infamy, known as infamis lost the protection of the law and there was a reward for his death (this was similar to the common law concept of outlawry). In addition, an exiled noble (banita) who killed an infamed one could expect his exile sentence to be revoked.

References

  1. ^ "Infamy". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08001a.htm. 

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainHerbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 


Translations:

Infamy

Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - nedrighed, skændighed, berygtethed

Nederlands (Dutch)
beruchtheid, schandelijke daad, schande

Français (French)
n. - infamie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Verrufenheit, Niederträchtigkeit

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ατιμία, αθλιότητα, αχρειότητα, κακοήθεια

Italiano (Italian)
ignominia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - infâmia (f), maldade (f)

Русский (Russian)
позор, подлость, лишение гражданских прав

Español (Spanish)
n. - infamia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vanära, infami, vanfrejd (jur.)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
声名狼藉, 丑行, 丑名

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 聲名狼藉, 醜行, 醜名

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 악평, 불명예, 파렴치 행위

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 不名誉, 悪名, 汚名, 醜行

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عار, سوء سمعه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חרפה, קלון, בושה‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms by Answers.com. © 1999-present by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
$copyright.smallImage.alttext West's Encyclopedia of American Law. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; sign up free Read more
Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Infamy Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

Follow us
Facebook Twitter
YouTube