Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Abusively detractive language or utterance; calumny: "I have had enough obloquy for one lifetime” ( Anthony Eden).
- n. The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of abuse or vilification; ill repute.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Contumelious or abusive language addressed to or aimed at another; calumny; abuse; reviling.
- n. That which causes reproach or detraction; an act or a condition which occasions abuse or reviling.
- n. The state of one stigmatized; odium; disgrace; shame; infamy.
- n. Synonyms Opprobrium, Infamy, etc. (see ignominy); censure, blame, detraction, calumny, aspersion; scandal, slander, defamation, dishonor, disgrace.
Wiktionary
- n. Abusive language.
- n. Disgrace suffered from abusive language.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Censorious speech; defamatory language; language that casts contempt on men or their actions; blame; reprehension.
- n. obsolete Cause of reproach; disgrace.
WordNet 3.0
- n. state of disgrace resulting from public abuse
- n. a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions
Etymologies
- From Late Latin obloquium ("contradiction"), from Latin obloquor ("speak against, contradict"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English obloqui, from Late Latin obloquium, abusive contradiction, from Latin obloquī, to interrupt : ob-, against; see ob- + loquī, to speak; see tolkw- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“First spotted at the beginning of the second millennium in a Latin-to-Anglo-Saxon glossary under the heading “Concerning Tools of Farmers,” it is now “a term of obloquy.””
“He has rivalled in obloquy Marx himself, with the additional effect of being a much more nearly present danger.”
“He shrugged his shoulders as if the obloquy were a tangible load that could be shifted.”
“Lord Justice Sedley said: "It seems that the making of a public sacrifice to deflect press and public obloquy, which is what happened to the appellant, remains an accepted expedient of public administration.”
“It seems that the making of a public sacrifice to deflect press and public obloquy, which is what happened to the appellant, remains an accepted expedient of public administration,”
“Envy, too, has had its share in the obloquy which is cast upon this office.”
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12)
“They heap "obloquy" upon us and they seek to discover crass motives behind our benevolent actions.”
“To say that it is true of all of them would be to cast too great obloquy upon the human race.”
“The result: almost universal obloquy from which, in some ways, he never quite recovered.”
The Guardian: The Booker prize is just another flea circus for writers
“Nowadays, you can't make a fart noise by blowing into an empty Black Crows box at the ballet without drawing the scorn and obloquy of all right-thinking men and women.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘obloquy’.
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This is not a list
you know that thing where the Eskimos have 50 words for snow?
little white lie, big lie, the Big Lie, economical with t..., muddy the waters, fabrication, deception, lies, damned lies..., façade, slander, omission, web of lies and 159 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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phrontistery - o
from phrontistery.info
oakum, oakus, oast, obambulate, obdormition, obduracy, obedible, obedientiary, obeism, obeliscolychny, obelize, obelus and 504 more...
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Jesse's random
bathos, dragoman, tessellated, escutcheon, eikon, mondaine, basilisk, ciborium, rubric, machicolation, jet, defalcation and 198 more...
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Not 250 Spelling Words Again
Yet more spelling words for intermediate to advanced spellers.
ihi, kyoodle, heimin, feis, menarche, cordwainer, gherao, zythum, accidie, anastomosis, boustrophedon, oleum and 238 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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Dan’s Reading List
Memo to myself: Read these definitions and comments.
Memo to everyone else: Thanks for adding, by the way—I do very much appreciate it. I try to move things from here to my bookmark...moist, yarb, theodolite, fufluns, plummet, crepuscular, twist, pique, umbrage, the united states..., smeath, new interface and 9 more...
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Words That Mean Things
I found most of these words in books! That means they MUST be good.
flinders, periplus, palaver, midden, cadge, legerdemain, flense, lapidary, geas, bailey, susurration, satoris and 128 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab from High School
Words that I found in an old notebook.
affinity, aggrandizement, altruistic, ameliorate, apochryphal, aversion, blithe, bombastic, cajole, callous, capitulate, capricious and 178 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for obloquy.
blafferty Apparently it can be either, logos:
1. verbal abuse of a person or thing; censure or vituperation, esp. when widespread or general
2. ill repute, disgrace, or infamy resulting from this
Well, not her body, or the event.
May 25, 2009
super-logos Is one ever in a state of obloquy? or it it something raised against one,like a petition? Would the articles against Anne Boleyn represent or result in obloquy? Would her appearance be an obloquy, lying there, headless, at the moment following her beheading at the behest of King Henry VIII? Was the event an obloquy? Help me please. Aug 8, 2008
minerva Also such language; calumny.
Complaining, as he did, in a half-menacing strain, of the obloquies raised against him--- 'That if he were innocent, he should despise the obloquy; if not, revenge would not wipe off his guilt.'
Clarissa Harlowe quoting Lovelace, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. Nov 28, 2007
jaime_d from Middlemarch Sep 30, 2007