infamous Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite known widely and usually unfavorably;
    notorious; ill-famed.
    • a notorious gangster
    • the tenderloin district was notorious for vice
    • the infamous Benedict Arnold

WordNet

In"fa*mous adjective
Etymology
Pref. in- not + famous: cf. L. infamis. See Infamy.
Definitions
  1. Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer.
    False errant knight, infamous, and forsworn. Spenser.
  2. Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree; as, an infamous act; infamous vices; infamous corruption. Macaulay.
  3. (Law) Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at common law, an infamous person can not be a witness.
  4. Having a bad name as being the place where an odious crime was committed, or as being associated with something detestable; hence, unlucky; perilous; dangerous. "Infamous woods." P. Fletcher.
    Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds. Milton.
    The piny shade More infamous by cursed Lycaon made. Dryden.
    Syn. -- Detestable; odious; scandalous; disgraceful; base; vile; shameful; ignominious.

Webster 1913