dishonour
/dɪsˈɒnə
/(US dishonor)
noun [mass noun]
A state of shame or disgrace: the incident brought dishonour upon the police...
- I am looked upon with disgrace and dishonor because of my past.
- The Kels, who had always welcomed me as one of them, felt I had brought deep dishonor upon their people.
- Every record I can find seems to think this was unjust, but the monks were intent upon his dishonour, for they blamed him.
Synonyms
disgrace, shame, discredit, humiliation, degradation, ignominy, scandal, infamy, disrepute, ill repute, loss of face, disfavour, ill favour, unpopularity, ill fame, notoriety, debasement, abasement, odium, opprobrium, obloquy;
stigma
rare disesteem, reprobation, vitiation
verb [with object]
1Bring shame or disgrace on: the ceremony was undertaken if a pupil had done something to dishonour the school...
- He knew he had disgraced himself and dishonored everything an FBI agent should stand for.
- If anything you have dishonored me for bringing me to be a part of this family.
- You're going to take the shame of dishonoring your kingdom to your grave, I promise you that.
Synonyms
disgrace, bring dishonour to, bring discredit to, bring shame to, shame, embarrass, humiliate, discredit, degrade, debase, lower, cheapen, drag down, drag through the mud, blacken the name of, give a bad name to, show in a bad light;
sully, stain, taint, smear, mar, blot, stigmatize
1.1 archaic Violate the chastity of (a woman); rape: she was now unworthy of his notice, having been dishonoured by Casim...
- But after that, I was so scared of dishonoring her, I insisted that for a month we only meet in the kitchen garden in full view of the convent!
- The leader spoke out against ‘crimes of honor,’ specifically the murder of a woman by her husband whom she had allegedly dishonored by immodest or otherwise unacceptable behavior.
- I have every right to challenge you to single combat for dishonoring her.
2Fail to observe or respect (an agreement or principle): the community has its own principles it can itself honour or dishonour...
- They dishonoured his contract and the new team certainly haven't covered themselves in glory.
- ‘The Government has dishonoured that promise, just as they dishonoured the housing commitments in the previous agreement,’ he said.
- If the company is forced to dishonour its commitments with these customers it could severely damage their credibility with these customers and raise doubts in their minds about their reliability.
2.1Refuse to accept or pay (a cheque or a bill of exchange): payment was by a cheque which was later dishonoured...
- A paying bank may dishonour the cheque - refuse to pay it - if the customer is not in funds, or if there is not a sufficiently agreed overdraft at the time it is presented.
- Finally, as a matter of practice, banks dishonour cheques that have been outstanding for a long period of time.
- A number of those cheques were dishonoured because there were insufficient funds, but she was able to continue because of good financial history.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French deshonor (noun), deshonorer (verb), based on Latin honor 'honour'.