notoriety

noun

no·​to·​ri·​e·​ty ˌnō-tə-ˈrī-ə-tē How to pronounce notoriety (audio)
plural notorieties
1
: the quality or state of being notorious
the city's notoriety for corrupt and incompetent governmentR. E. Merriam
2
: a notorious person
love to have notabilities and notorieties under one roofThe Times Literary Supplement (London)

Examples of notoriety in a Sentence

He achieved instant fame and notoriety with the release of his film. She gained notoriety when nude photographs of her appeared in a magazine. His comment about the President has given him a notoriety that he enjoys very much.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Importantly, however, this rise to meteoric TikTok notoriety goes far beyond eye-catching, colorful products and instead is propelled by a dedication to positive messaging and community communication. Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 18 Apr. 2025 The ’90s film may have the notoriety (Kirsten Dunst deserves), but showrunner Rolin Jones’s series digs deeper into the unhinged love story of Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 18 Apr. 2025 For fans of Mid-Atlantic street music, a word that’s growing in notoriety is bip. Lawrence Burney, Pitchfork, 18 Apr. 2025 The company soon gained notoriety for building a database of billions of images harvested from the internet without users’ consent to power his company’s facial recognition technology. David Jeans, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for notoriety

Word History

Etymology

Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French notorieté, from Medieval Latin notorietat-, notorietas, from notorius

First Known Use

circa 1650, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of notoriety was circa 1650

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Cite this Entry

“Notoriety.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/notoriety. Accessed 6 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

notoriety

noun
no·​to·​ri·​ety
ˌnōt-ə-ˈrī-ət-ē
plural notorieties
: the quality or state of being notorious

More from Merriam-Webster on notoriety

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