Definitions

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

  • noun Loss of honor, respect, or reputation; shame.
  • noun The condition of being strongly and generally disapproved.
  • noun One that brings disfavor or discredit.
  • transitive verb To bring shame or dishonor on.
  • transitive verb To deprive of favor or good repute; treat with disfavor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A state of being out of favor; exclusion from favor, confidence, or trust: as, the minister retired from court in disgrace.
  • noun A state of ignominy, dishonor, or shame; subjection to opprobrium.
  • noun A cause of shame or reproach; that which dishonors: as, honest poverty is no disgrace.
  • noun Want of grace of person or mind; illfavoredness; ungracious condition or character.
  • noun An act of unkindness; an ill turn.
  • noun Synonyms and Disgrace, Dishonor, etc. (see odium), discredit, ignominy, infamy, disrepute, reproach, contempt, opprobrium, obloquy.
  • noun Scandal, blot.
  • To put out of favor; dismiss with discredit.
  • To treat or affect ignominiously; bring or cast shame or reproach upon; dishonor; put to shame.
  • To revile; upbraid; heap reproaches upon.
  • Synonyms and Debase, Degrade, etc. (see abase); to shame, mortify, dishonor; tarnish, blot, stain, sully. See list under debase.

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

  • transitive verb To put out of favor; to dismiss with dishonor.
  • transitive verb To do disfavor to; to bring reproach or shame upon; to dishonor; to treat or cover with ignominy; to lower in estimation.
  • transitive verb To treat discourteously; to upbraid; to revile.
  • noun The condition of being out of favor; loss of favor, regard, or respect.
  • noun The state of being dishonored, or covered with shame; dishonor; shame; ignominy.
  • noun That which brings dishonor; cause of shame or reproach; great discredit.
  • noun obsolete An act of unkindness; a disfavor.

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

  • noun The condition of being out of favor; loss of favor, regard, or respect.
  • noun The state of being dishonored, or covered with shame; dishonor; shame; ignominy.
  • noun That which brings dishonor; cause of shame or reproach; great discredit; as, vice is a disgrace to a rational being.
  • noun obsolete An act of unkindness; a disfavor.
  • verb To disrespect another; to put someone out of favor.

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

  • noun a state of dishonor
  • verb damage the reputation of
  • verb bring shame or dishonor upon
  • verb reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

Etymologies

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

[French disgrâce, from Italian disgrazia : dis-, not (from Latin; see dis–) + grazia, favor (from Latin grātia, from grātus, pleasing; see gwerə- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French disgracier.

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  • For some reason I love this word. There's something ironically graceful about it.

    July 17, 2009