opprobrium
noun
Did you know?
Unfamiliar with opprobrium? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Just kidding—unfamiliarity with a word is hardly grounds for, well, opprobrium. We're here to learn! Besides, opprobrium is quite formal and has few close relations in English. It comes from the Latin verb opprobrāre, which means "to reproach." That verb, in turn, comes from the noun probrum, meaning "a disgraceful act" or "reproach." The adjective form of opprobrium is opprobrious, which in English means "deserving of scorn" or "expressing contempt." One might commit an "opprobrious crime" or be berated with "opprobrious language," for example.
Examples of opprobrium in a Sentence
Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 5 Apr. 2024
Sudan and Morocco were tepid in criticism of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, but quick to join regional opprobrium over Israel’s retaliation.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024
Interviews with 10 of them show that convictions bring social opprobrium and complications in finding work, spurring some people to leave Russia altogether.
—Anton Troianovski, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2023
Israel could use massive bombs to destroy tunnels, but doing so would kill thousands more civilians in the process—winning the country only more international opprobrium and promoting Hamas’s narrative that the IDF deliberately slaughters innocent people.
—Audrey Kurth Cronin, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2023
The respect the Dalai Lama receives around the world stands in stark contrast to the opprobrium heaped on him by the Chinese government.
—Lobsang Sangay, Foreign Affairs, 6 Nov. 2023
Heatherwick’s contribution to this long saga of opprobrium is a tone of quiet hysteria mixed with patient explanation.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 23 Oct. 2023
After his May court appearance, Yoo was hit on the head by a bottle-wielding assailant, an incident that points to Korean public opprobrium being as weighty a punishment as a court verdict.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 20 Oct. 2023
Future problems Paxton’s ability to brush aside opprobrium and obloquy in Texas politics is nearly unrivaled.
—Lauren McGaughy, Dallas News, 18 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'opprobrium.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Opprobrium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/opprobrium. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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opprobrium
noun
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