ignominious

adjective ig·no·min·i·ous \ ˌig-nə-ˈmi-nē-əs \

|Updated on: 14 Jun 2018

Examples: ignominious in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of ignominious

1 : marked with or characterized by disgrace or shame : dishonorable

2 : deserving of shame or infamy : despicable

3 : humiliating, degrading

an ignominious defeat

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ignominiously

adverb

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ignominiousness

noun

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Examples of ignominious in a Sentence

some of his friends considered the job of janitor to be an ignominious fate for the laid-off executive
the prison guards degraded themselves with their inhumane, ignominious treatment of the prisoners

Recent Examples of ignominious from the Web

Only Manny Machado's home run to open the sixth inning Saturday ended that ignominious run, albeit on a technicality.

— jon meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles offense comes up short again as losing streak extends to seven with 8-5 loss to Yankees," 3 June 2018
One year after an ignominious 3-9 season, the Spartans rebounded with a 10-3 record, finishing second in the Big Ten East.

— orion sang, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan State football 12th in Athlon rankings: Is that too low?," 21 May 2018
The finale infamously brought in cast members from The Next Generation to tell the final chapter in Enterprise’s story, and it was viewed by some as a disrespectful and ignominious end to 18 almost-unbroken years of Trek on the small screen.

— sam ferguson, Ars Technica, "A dozen years after near-death, Star Trek’s future may be stronger than ever," 19 May 2018
Yes, there is a long and ignominious list of British players who thrived in England but struggled abroad.

— SI.com, "FanView: Why Man City's John Stones May Need to Leave the Premier League to Fulfil His Potential," 26 Apr. 2018
In 1952, the City of New York — rejigged as a coal barge — caught fire in Nova Scotia and sank, an ignominious end to a famous ship.

— john kelly, Washington Post, "In 1931, Washington tourists could visit Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic flagship," 12 May 2018
Casey joins an ignominious list of the best coaches to ever be fired.

— chris chase, For The Win, "Dwane Casey and the 10 other best coaches to be fired," 11 May 2018
Fans of teams projected to draft a quarterback in the first round of this year's draft will hope the 2018 QB draft class doesn't some day join this ignominious list.

— jim reineking, USA TODAY, "Five worst NFL draft quarterback classes: JaMarcus Russell headlines infamous group," 24 Apr. 2018
Missouri maintains its ignominious distinction of having the highest rate of black homicide victims in the country — and Kansas is now in the top 10 — according to a study of federal data released Wednesday.

— matt campbell, kansascity, "Missouri yet again has highest black homicide rate; Kansas is in Top 10 | The Kansas City Star," 18 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ignominious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The "-nom-" of "ignominious" comes from "nomen," the Latin word for "name" or "repute." (It's also the root of "misnomer," "nomenclature," and "nominal," among others.) The "ig-" part of the word is akin to the negative prefix in-; when joined to the root "-nom-," it indicates the namelessness that goes with shame or dishonor. To suffer an ignominious fate is to lose the opportunity to make a name for oneself or to lose one's good name. When "ignominious" was first borrowed from a French form of the word in the 15th century, it meant "disgraced" or "dishonorable." "Ignominious" continues to have such meanings, but it also has somewhat milder meanings - "embarrassing" and "humiliating."