Citations:opprobrium

English citations of opprobrium

				1788		1943	2007 2011
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

(uncountable)
1. Disgrace or bad reputation arising from exceedingly shameful behaviour; ignominy. [from late 17th c.]
  - 1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number X. The Same Subject Continued [The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Faction and Insurrection].”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 57:
    Let me add that it is the great deſideratum, by which alone this form of government can be reſcued from the opprobrium under which it has ſo long labored, and be recommended to the eſteem and adoption of mankind.
  - 2007 August 1, Robert Peston, quotee, “BA’s Price-fix Fine Reaches £270m”, in BBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 April 2021:
    Virgin [Atlantic] won't pay a penny in fines and actually emerges as a winner, since all the opprobrium of the rule-breach has been heaped on BA [British Airways].
  - 2011 October 7, “[Fabio] Capello: I will let my players go out drinking”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport Supplement), page S10:
    [Daily Telegraph Football Correspondent] added: " […] brought opprobrium on their rugby counterparts, as long as they are performing on the pitch."
2. Scornful contempt or reproach; (countable) an instance of this.
  - 1943, Ayn Rand, chapter 15, in The Fountainhead, book 2, page 394:
    "The only thing wrong with that old cliché," said Toohey, "is the erroneous implication that 'a crowd' is a term of opprobrium. It is quite the opposite.