infamous

adjective

in·fa·mous | \ˈin-fə-məs

Definition of infamous

1 : having a reputation of the worst kind : notoriously evil an infamous traitor

2 : causing or bringing infamy : disgraceful an infamous crime

3 : convicted of an offense bringing infamy

Other Words from infamous Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about infamous

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Examples of infamous in a Sentence

The most infamous of South America's poisonous snakes are the ringed coral snake and the pit viper. — Candice Millard, The River of Doubt, 2005 Clemens is famous, or maybe infamous, for his brushback pitches and in particular for his penchant for "doubling up," throwing two brushbacks in a row. — Pat Jordan, New York Times Magazine, 4 Mar. 2001 Instead we invoke the infamous dark matter, also known to make up most of the mass of other galaxies (both spiral and elliptical), clusters of galaxies, and the universe. What is it? Your guess may not be quite as good as mine, but almost. — Virginia Trimble et al., Sky & Telescope, January 1995 a city infamous for poverty and crime He committed an infamous crime.

Recent Examples on the Web

Celebrity email hacks have been on the rise over the past few years, including the infamous Sony email hacks that lead to conversations about pay inequality in Hollywood. — Anna Millard, refinery29.com, "Hacker Charged For Breaking Into Selena Gomez's Emails," 14 July 2018 The separation news came nearly a year after the infamous recording involving a lewd conversation with President Donald Trump leaked to the Washington Post. — Mariah Haas, Fox News, "Billy Bush's wife, Sydney Davis, files for divorce after nearly 20 years of marriage: report," 13 July 2018 Though Los Angeles did not rank as the worst traffic, its infamous road congestion along with the high cost of ownership earned Los Angeles its number nine spot. 10. — Sarah Gray, Fortune, "These Are the 10 Worst Cities for Driving in 2018," 12 July 2018 What followed were the infamous Stamp and Townsend acts, which directly taxed the colonists and imposed import duties on various items, including tea. — Hoyt Hilsman, WSJ, "Tariffs Made America Great," 10 July 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp and the infamous snap What happens: In the mid-credits scene, everyone — Scott, Hope, Janet, and Hank — is reunited and doing some science-y stuff with the Quantum Realm. — Alex Abad-santos, Vox, "Ant-Man and the Wasp’s post-credits scenes, explained," 6 July 2018 Either way, Twitter is obviously having a field day with the video, with comparisons being made to Madonna's infamous faux-British accent. — Ruby Buddemeyer, Marie Claire, "This Video of Meghan Markle Speaking With a British Accent Has Left People Puzzled," 5 July 2018 As Fauna begins to investigate the secrets to her past, the trail leads her to infamous Hollywood gynecologist, Dr. George Hodel (Mays), a man with dark secrets. — Aja Hoggatt, EW.com, "See the trailer for Patty Jenkins and Chris Pine's new TNT limited series," 2 July 2018 England was infamous in an earlier era for the ugliness of soccer hooliganism, and some fans in Russia have been accused of throwing Nazi salutes and chanting racist and anti-Semitic songs. — Ceylan Yeginsu, New York Times, "World Cup Brings England Together at a Time of Division," 10 July 2018

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

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Dictionary Entries near infamous

infamous crime against nature

infamy

Statistics for infamous

Last Updated

1 Nov 2018

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for infamous

The first known use of infamous was in the 14th century

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More Definitions for infamous

infamous

adjective

English Language Learners Definition of infamous

: well-known for being bad : known for evil acts or crimes

: causing people to think you are bad or evil

See the full definition for infamous in the English Language Learners Dictionary

infamous

adjective

in·fa·mous | \ˈin-fə-məs

Kids Definition of infamous

1 : having an evil reputation an infamous murderer

2 : evil entry 1 sense 1, bad an infamous crime

infamous

adjective

in·fa·mous | \ˈin-fə-məs

Legal Definition of infamous

: of, relating to, or being a crime punishable by imprisonment (as a year or more in a penitentiary) that can lead to loss of rights and privileges upon conviction also : convicted of such a crime