notorious

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English notoryous, from Medieval Latin nōtōrius (“evident, known; famous, well-known; infamous”), from Latin nōtus (“known, recognized; familiar, widely known; famous, well-known; infamous”) + -tōrius (suffix forming adjectives). Nōtus is the perfect passive participle of nōscō (“to become acquainted with or learn about (something); (rare) to be familiar with, recognize”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know; to recognize”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nə(ʊ)ˈtɔː.ɹɪ.əs/
• (General American) enPR: nə-tôrʹē-əs, nō- IPA^(key): /nəˈtɔ.ɹi.əs/, /noʊ-/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəs
• Hyphenation: no‧tor‧i‧ous

Adjective

notorious (comparative more notorious, superlative most notorious)

1. Senses with an unfavourable connotation.
   1. Of a person or entity: generally or widely known for something negative; infamous.

      Synonym: ill-famed

      Antonym: famous

      • 1605, Michael Drayton, Poems: , London: Willi Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, published 1630, →OCLC, stanza 28, page 109:

        Such Men theſe had, to Miſchiefe vvholly bent, / In Villanie, notorious for their skill, / Diſhoneſt, deſp'rate, mercileſſe, and rude, / That dar'd into Damnation to intrude.

      • 1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. ”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: Will Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 570:

        You notorious ſtinkardly bearevvard, do's my breath ſmell?

      • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, William Congreve, transl., “ The Eleventh Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. , London: Printed for Jacob Tonson , →OCLC, page 219, lines 9–10:

        But Rutilus, is ſo Notorious grovvn, / That he's the common Theme of all the Tovvn.

      • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, , published 1792, →OCLC, page 232:

        A vvoman of quality, notorious for her gallantries, though as ſhe ſtill lived vvith her huſband, nobody choſe to place her in the claſs vvhere ſhe ought to have been placed, […]

      • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 290:

        Then he had gone to Oxford, had entered himself at Magdalene, and had soon become notorious there for every kind of vice.

      • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLVII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 235:

        He found out that she had belonged to a profession whose most notorious member for our generation was Mrs. Warren, and having made a competence she now lived the quiet life of the bourgeoise.

      • 1920 May 27, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Offshore Pirate”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published September 1920, →OCLC, part I, page 6:

        This is the last straw. In your infatuation for this man—a man who is notorious for his excesses, a man your father would not have allowed to so much as mention your name—you have reflected the demi-monde rather than the circles in which you have presumably grown up.

      • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: John Long, →OCLC, page 156:

        Simon Forman was notorious in his day, and was a man of many reverses.

      • 2013 November 25, Katharine Q. Seelye, “Sticking by a murderous brother, and paying for it dearly”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-25:

        But he [William Bulger] forfeited this legacy long ago, shedding it in exchange for intense loyalty to another Boston power broker, his older brother, James (Whitey) Bulger, the city's notorious crime boss.

      • 2016 October 29, Aviva Shen, “Angola prison rodeo offers risks and rewards for Louisiana’s hard-knock lifers”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-08-10:

        This is the Angola Prison Rodeo, a 53-year-old tradition at the biggest and most notorious prison in Louisiana, the incarceration capital of the world.

      • 2021 June 25, Olga Khazan, “We’re Not Ready for Another Pandemic”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic‎, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-05:

        The U.S. is notorious for spending oodles on health care, but health care has little to do with stopping the spread of infectious diseases.

   2. Of an act, situation, etc.: blameworthy in an obvious and offensive way; blatant, flagrant.
      • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 93, column 2:

        Sir, ſir, I ſhall haue Lavv in Epheſus, / To your notorious ſhame, I doubt it not.

      • 1626 May 10, John Donne, “A Sermon Preached to the Household at White-hall, April 30. 1626 . Sermon VIII.”, in XXVI. Sermons (Never before Publish’d) Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine John Donne, , London: Thomas Newcomb, , published 1661, →OCLC, page 108:

        [T]he Apoſtle by the vvord diſorderly, does not mean perſons that live in any courſe of notorious ſin; but by diſorderly, he means Ignavos, Inutiles, idle and unprofitable perſons; perſons of no uſe to the Church, or to the State: […]

      • 1723, [Daniel Defoe], The History and Remarkable Life of the Truly Honourable Col. Jacque, Commonly Call’d Col. Jack, , 2nd edition, London: J. Brotherton, , →OCLC, page 98:

        [H]e vvas Charg'd upon Oath, vvith having been a Party in a notorious Robbery, Burglary, and Murther, committed ſo and ſo, in ſuch a Place, and on ſuch a Day.

2. Senses with a favourable or neutral connotation.
   1. Generally or widely known; of common knowledge; famous or well-known.
      • a. 1587 (date written), Philip Sidney, “Psalm XX. Exaudiat te Dominus.”, in The Psalmes of David , London: From the Chiswick Press by C Whittingham, for Robert Triphook, , published 1823, →OCLC, page 30:

        Lett him [God] notorious make, / That in good part he did thy offrings take.

      • 1610, William Camden, “The Author to the Reader”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, , London: Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC:

        Some vvill blame me for that I have omitted this and that tovvne and Caſtle, as though I purpoſed to mention any but ſuch as vvere moſt notorious, and vvere mentioned by ancient authours. Neither verily vvere it vvorth the labour once to name them, vvhen as beſide the naked name there is nothing memorable.

      • 1613, Samuel Purchas, “ Of the Re-peopling of the World: And of the Diuision of Tongues and Nations.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. , 2nd edition, London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, , published 1614, →OCLC, book I (Of the First Beginnings of the World and Religion: And of the Regions and Religions of Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, Phænicia, and Palestina), page 44:

        Of Cham is the name Chemmis in Ægypt; and Ammon the Idoll and Oracle ſo notorious.

      • 1774 (first performance), Samuel Foote, edited by [George] Colman, The Cozeners; a Comedy, , London: T Sherlock, for T Cadell, , published 1778, →OCLC, Act II, page 56:

        Mrs. Fl[eece'em]. Hymn? then the Doctor ſings, I preſume. / Mrs. Sim[ony]. Not a better pipe at the playhouſe; he has been long notorious for that: Then he is as chearful, and has ſuch a choice collection of ſongs!

   2. (obsolete)
      1. Clear, evident, obvious.
         • 1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Description and Differences of Bees”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: , London: William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 66:

           For the elder ſort of them are rough, hard, thinne and leane ſcragges, ſtatuelinges, lothſome to touch and to looke vpon, ſomevvhat long, nothing but skinne and bone, yet very notorious and goodly too ſee to, in regard of their grauity, hoarenes and aunciency.

         • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “Sermon XVII. The Folly of Slander.”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. , volume II, London: A J Valpy, , published 1830, →OCLC, pages 20–21:

           It is not every possibility, every seeming, every faint show or glimmering appearance, which sufficeth to ground bad opinion or reproachful discourse concerning our brother: the matter should be clear, notorious, and palpable, before we admit a disadvantageous conceit into our head, a distasteful resentment into our heart, a harsh word into our mouth about him.

         • 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. , London: Samuel Smith, , →OCLC, part II, page 18:

           [T]he failing in any one of theſe [members of the body] vvould cauſe Irregularity in the Body, and in many of them ſuch as vvould be very notorious.

      2. Generally or widely knowable.
         • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Promise and Couenant”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour  (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published , →OCLC, 3rd book, page 220:

           But what hope is there to haue fidelitie well kept amonge us in promises and bargaynes, whan for the breache therof is prouided no punisshement, nor yet notorious rebuke; […]

         • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, , London: W Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 25:

           The King therefore firſt called his Councell together at the Charter-houſe at Shine. VVhich Councell vvas held vvith great ſecrecie, but the open Decrees thereof, vvhich preſently came abroad, vvere three. […] The next vvas, that Edvvard Plantagenet, then Cloſe-priſoner in the Tovver, ſhould be in the moſt publike and notorious manner, that could be deuiſed, ſhevved vnto the people: In part to diſcharge the King of the Enuie of that opinion and bruite, hovv he had beene put to death priuily in the Tovver; […]

         • 1818, Henry Hallam, “On the Feudal System, Especially in France”, in View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. , volume I, London: John Murray, , →OCLC, part II, page 205:

           They [legislative ordinances] were in some instances promulgated by the king in parliament. Others were sent thither for registration, or entry upon their records. This formality was by degrees, if not from the beginning, deemed essential to render them authentic and notorious, and therefore indirectly gave them sanction and validity of a law.

Usage notes

The word notorious originally had a neutral or positive connotation (sharing a Latin root with the words notable and noteworthy) but is now usually associated with negative characteristics. The word is still used to describe positive characteristics (“a notorious perfectionist” or “notorious for his generosity”) but this use is now considered playful or ironic as a result of the word’s negative connotations.

Antonyms

• unnotorious

Derived terms

• notorify (obsolete)
• notoriously
• notoriousness
• unnotorious
• open and notorious

Related terms

• notoriety
• notorily (obsolete)
• notory (obsolete)

Translations

Adverb

notorious (comparative more notorious, superlative most notorious)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of notoriously

References

Further reading

• notorious (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia