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opprobrium

noun

ə-ˈprō-brē-əm How to pronounce opprobrium (audio)
Definition of opprobriumnext
1
as in scandal
a cause of shame saw no reason why "secretary" should suddenly become a term of opprobrium among the politically correct

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disgrace
the state of having lost the esteem of others the opprobrium that was long attached to the convicted embezzler's name

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of opprobrium But there was no mass walkout, no opprobrium. — James McNicholas, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2026 Meanwhile, many members of Congress skipped town, amid growing public opprobrium that, perhaps, crystallized most visibly in the gossip rag TMZ, which has gone full Woodward and Bernstein, running photos of lawmakers in the line of anything but duty. — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026 The policies pursued by the Islamic Republic in the 1990s—the death fatwa against Salman Rushdie and attempts to kill his associates, the terror bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina—gained it nothing but opprobrium. — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2026 Govan and Zumthor, who until now has never built a building in the US, inspired years of pearl clutching in Los Angeles over the development—one art critic even earned a Pulitzer Prize for his opprobrium. — Mark Guiducci, Vanity Fair, 6 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for opprobrium
Recent Examples of Synonyms for opprobrium
  1. scandal
  2. disgrace
  3. shame
  4. contempt
  5. odium
  6. humiliation
Noun
  • One roundtable focused on the need for France and Italy to join forces to protect their manufacturing sectors, under threat from cheap imports from China, and weakened by the downturn in luxury sales and supply-chain scandals.
    — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Various corruption scandals have hurt Zelenskyy’s approval ratings at a time when Ukraine is still fighting for survival against Russia's 4 1/2-year full-scale invasion.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of scandal
Noun
  • Raman did win, scoring an outright victory in the 2024 primary (Martinez, of course, resigned in disgrace).
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Now 12 years later, Ballmer is another disgrace in a franchise history overrun with them.
    — Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of disgrace
Noun
  • The creativity was not there, which is a shame when Morgan Gibbs-White is on the pitch.
    — Stuart James, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The pain of his inability to speak about the tangle of anger and shame gnawing at him is palpable.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of shame
Noun
  • That court, which has five judges appointed by Republican governors and two appointed by Democrats, then summoned Hoskins, a Republican, to appear for a contempt of court hearing Thursday.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is set to face the state Supreme Court today to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of contempt
Noun
  • Pashinyan had led the movement to oust Moscow’s influence in Armenia; he was now saddled with the odium of losing Karabakh on his watch.
    — Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
  • By heaping odium on Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, one of several prominent opposition figures, the government gave a divided opposition a leader to unite around.
    — Christopher de Bellaigue, The New York Review of Books, 13 Oct. 2022
Definition of odium
Noun
  • And Harvey faces his overbearing father’s disappointment most glaringly with the public humiliation of an emotional breakdown while taking part in an amateur wrestling match the bodybuilder entered to prove his physical strength.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Lance Oppenheim’s new film, Primetime, returns to Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator, a television format that made public humiliation feel like a public service.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of humiliation

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opprobrium
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Cite this Entry

“Opprobrium.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/opprobrium. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

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