Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Abusively detractive language or utterance; calumny.
  • noun The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of abuse or vilification; ill repute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Contumelious or abusive language addressed to or aimed at another; calumny; abuse; reviling.
  • noun That which causes reproach or detraction; an act or a condition which occasions abuse or reviling.
  • noun The state of one stigmatized; odium; disgrace; shame; infamy.
  • noun Synonyms Opprobrium, Infamy, etc. (see ignominy); censure, blame, detraction, calumny, aspersion; scandal, slander, defamation, dishonor, disgrace.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Censorious speech; defamatory language; language that casts contempt on men or their actions; blame; reprehension.
  • noun obsolete Cause of reproach; disgrace.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Abusive language.
  • noun Disgrace suffered from abusive language.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun state of disgrace resulting from public abuse
  • noun a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[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.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin obloquium ("contradiction"), from Latin obloquor ("speak against, contradict").

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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.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • 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.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • 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.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • 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.”

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • He has rivalled in obloquy Marx himself, with the additional effect of being a much more nearly present danger.

    Economic Policy and the Liberal Left 1983

  • He shrugged his shoulders as if the obloquy were a tangible load that could be shifted.

    Reels and Spindles A Story of Mill Life Evelyn Raymond 1876

  • 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."

    Your Local Guardian | Wimbledon 2010

  • "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,"

    The Latest From www.inthenews.co.uk 2010

  • "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,"

    The Latest From www.inthenews.co.uk 2010

  • "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,"

    The Latest From www.inthenews.co.uk 2010

Comments

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  • from Middlemarch

    October 1, 2007

  • 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.

    November 28, 2007

  • 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.

    August 9, 2008

  • 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 26, 2009