disgrace

From Middle French disgracier.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈɡɹeɪs/, /dɪzˈɡɹeɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈɡɹeɪs/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪs

disgrace (countable and uncountable, plural disgraces)

1. The condition of being out of favor; loss of favor, regard, or respect.
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 3

     Macduff lives in disgrace.

2. The state of being dishonored, or covered with shame

   Now she lives in disgrace.

   Synonyms: dishonor, shame, ignominy

3. (countable) Something which brings dishonor; the cause of shame or reproach; great discredit
   • 1853, Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave

     Practice and whipping were alike unavailing, and Epps, satisfied of it at last, swore I was a disgrace—that I was not fit to associate with a cotton-picking "nigger"—that I could not pick enough in a day to pay the trouble of weighing it,

   His behaviour at the party was a total disgrace! He was leeching on all the ladies, and insulting the men

4. (obsolete) An act of unkindness; a disfavor.
   • 1884, Francis Bacon, Of Ambition

     the interchange continually of favours and disgraces

• misgrace (far less common)

• disgraceful
• disgraceless

disgrace (third-person singular simple present disgraces, present participle disgracing, simple past and past participle disgraced)

1. To disrespect another; to put someone out of favor.

• disgrace in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• disgrace in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.