Revised as of
4 July 2023
Yeah, I was surprised when I read that the famous Madonna was infamous. I suppose that, yeah, she could be considered wicked and bad, but I must confess, I’m more inclined to see people like Hitler and Pol Pot as infamous more than some celebrity.
Notorious was added 7 November 2016 and is similar to infamous.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Famous vs Infamous vs Notorious” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Famous | Infamous | Notorious |
|---|---|---|
Nathan’s Famous by Wally Gobetz is under the CC-BY-2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Andersonville Prison, August 1864, is courtesy of the National Parks Gallery is under the Public Domain Mark 1.0 license, via Picryl. — During the Civil War in America, Andersonville was infamous for how poorly its prisoners were treated. |
Cesare Borgia was painted by Altobello Melone and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Borgia was notorious for being the illegitimate son of a cardinal and his mistress. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Adjective | Adjective | Adjective |
Known about by many people
[Informal] First-rate
[Pejorative] Notorious |
Well known for some bad quality or deed on a wide scale for how bad they are
Deserving of or causing an evil reputation
Detestable |
Famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed |
| Examples: | ||
| The country is famous for its natural beauty.
Ben Affleck is a famous star. Hemingway is a famous writer. Some famous people include Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Julie Andrews, etc. Woodstock was a famous performance event. Grouch Marx’s famous last words were: “This is no way to live!” |
Eichmann is an infamous war criminal.
The medical council disqualified him for infamous misconduct. Some infamous people include Paris Hilton, Ned Kelly, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, etc. The My Lai massacre was an infamous war atrocity. Enron became infamous for its accounting practices. |
Los Angeles is notorious for its smog.
He was a notorious drinker and womanizer. Tom Horn was notorious as one of the most cold-blooded killers of the Wild West. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: overfamous, prefamous Adverb: famously, prefamously Noun: famousness |
Adverb: infamously Noun: infamousness |
Adverb: notoriously Noun: notoriousness |
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late Middle English from the Old French fameus, which is from the Latin famosus meaning famed, from fama. | Late Middle English from the medieval Latin infamosus, which is from the Latin infamis and based on fama, meaning fame. | Late 15th century in the sense of generally known, from the medieval Latin notorius from the Latin notus meaning known + |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Famous vs Infamous vs Notorious
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits
Milli Vanilli, a photo by Alan Light, and Mr Bean at Goodwood by Nathan Wong (Flickr) are both under the CC BY 2.0 license; the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project Demolished, 1972, by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research (Creating Defensible Space) was regarded as one of the most infamous failures of public housing in American history and is in the public domain. All are via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}
