opprobrious

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • adj opprobrious (used of conduct or character) deserving or bringing disgrace or shame "Man...has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands"- Rachel Carson","an ignominious retreat","inglorious defeat","an opprobrious monument to human greed","a shameful display of cowardice"
    • adj opprobrious expressing offensive reproach
    • ***
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Opprobrious Expressive of opprobrium; attaching disgrace; reproachful; scurrilous; as, opprobrious language. "They . . . vindicate themselves in terms no less opprobrious than those by which they are attacked."
    • Opprobrious Infamous; despised; rendered hateful; as, an opprobrious name. "This dark, opprobrious den of shame."
    • ***
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • opprobrious Reproachful; expressive of opprobrium or disgrace; contumelious; abusive; scurrilous: as, an opprobrious epithet.
    • opprobrious Ill-reputed; associated with shame and disgrace; rendered odious; infamous.
    • opprobrious Synonyms Condemnatory, offensive.
    • ***
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • adj Opprobrious o-prō′bri-us expressive of opprobrium or disgrace: reproachful: infamous: despised
    • ***

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. opprobriosus, fr. opprobrium,. See Opprobrium
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L.,—ob, against, probrum, reproach.

Usage

In literature:

Then yet again Melantho with rude speech Opprobrious, thus, assail'd Ulysses' ear.
"The Odyssey of Homer" by Homer
That we did not speak in opprobrious, but rather favourable terms, of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor; or, 3.
"The Story of My Life" by Egerton Ryerson
Robert had no words too opprobrious for the widowed condition from which her return had rescued him.
"Robert Elsmere" by Mrs. Humphry Ward
One word more about the race, all but extinct, of the people opprobriously called prize-fighters.
"The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro'" by George Borrow
He called her by the most opprobrious names.
"Margaret of Anjou" by Jacob Abbott
Now these remarks are not opprobrious.
"The Opened Shutters" by Clara Louise Burnham
Not wanting opprobrious epithets, my steed remained nameless for the first week.
"A Yeoman's Letters" by P. T. Ross
To call a trader a lamb is as opprobrious an epithet as it was to call a Norman baron an Englishman.
"Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905" by Various
The opprobrious epithets which he applied to her stung her to the quick.
"The Cryptogram" by James De Mille
Opprobrious epithets are derived from these differences.
"Introduction to the Science of Sociology" by Robert E. Park
***

In poetry:

He gnasht his teeth; opprobrious names
Muttered on Death, and wisht his flames
Could crack his stubborn ribs . . in vain . .
He must resign or share the place
Imperial; he must bear disgrace
While that intruder feels but pain.
"On The Descent Into Hell Of Ezzelino Di Napoli" by Walter Savage Landor

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