different between contumely vs opprobrium

English

Etymology

From Old French contumelie, from Latin contum?lia (“insult”), perhaps from com- + tume? (“swell”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?ntju?m?li/

Noun

contumely (countable and uncountable, plural contumelies)

1. Offensive and abusive language or behaviour; scorn, insult.

   • For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time, The Oppressors wrong, the poore mans Contumely [...]

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, page 19 ?ISBN

     She had been subjected to contumely and cross-questoning and ill-usage through the whole evening.

   • 1953, James Strachey, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, p. 178:

     If this picture of the two psychical agencies and their relation to the consciousness is accepted, there is a complete analogy in political life to the extraordinary affection which I felt in my dream for my friend R., who was treated with such contumely during the dream's interpretation.

Related terms

• contumacious
• contumaciously
• contumaciousness
• contumacy
• contumelious

Translations

Further reading

• “contumely”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin opprobrium (“reproach, disgrace”), first attested [1656], from opprobr? (“reproach, taunt”), from ob (“against”) + probrum (“disgrace, dishonor”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??p?o?b?i.?m/

Noun

opprobrium (countable and uncountable, plural opprobriums or opprobria)

1. Disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct; ignominy.

   Synonym: obloquy

2. Scornful reproach or contempt.

   Synonyms: blame, castigation, censure, defamation, derision, invective, libel; see also Thesaurus:contempt

3. A cause of shame or disgrace.

   Synonym: curse

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:opprobrium.

Related terms

• opprobrious

Translations

Latin

Alternative forms

• obprobrium

Etymology

From opprobr? +? -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /op?pro.bri.um/, [?p?p??b?i???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /op?pro.bri.um/, [?p?p???b?ium]

Noun

opprobrium n (genitive opprobri? or opprobr?); second declension

1. reproach, taunt
2. scandal, disgrace, dishonour, shame

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• opprobri?sus

Descendants

• Catalan: oprobi
• ? English: opprobrium
• French: opprobre
• Portuguese: opróbrio
• Spanish: oprobio, oprobrio

References

• opprobrium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• opprobrium in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• opprobrium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette