disgrace

Etymology

The verb is borrowed from Middle French disgracier, recorded in French from 1552,^[2][3][4] from disgraziare, formed on disgrazia (“misfortune, deformity”);^[2][3][5][6] the noun was taken from French disgrâce, from the same Italian noun.^[2][5][7][8] The Italian noun is formed with the prefix dis-, from dis-,^[3][9] and grazia (“grace, favour”), from grātia (“favour, esteem, charm”),^[3][8][9] itself from grātus (“pleasing”), the source of grace.^[9][5] The OED compares desgracia (“misfortune”) and disgratia (15th century).^[2] Weekley notes that its first sense, loss of favour, is still the one in French.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb meant to spoil the grace or outward beauty of something, to disfigure: 1549, in Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalms,^[2][3] the 1550s in Etymonline.^[5] The noun, recorded from 1581 in George Pettie's translation of Guazzo's Civile Conversation, meant the disfavour of a powerful person and the loss of honour that went with it.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The words kept close to the sense of disgrazia at first: the noun meant also misfortune (1590–1697) and disfigurement (1581–98),^[2] and the verb's sense "to disfigure" lasted into the late 18th century, as in Cowper's "Withered stumps disgrace the sylvan scene".^[2][4] The sense "to dismiss from favour" is recorded from 1593,^[2][5] and Shakespeare's Macbeth has "I hear Macduff lives in disgrace", that is, out of favour.^[10] The stronger sense, shame or dishonour in public opinion, followed: for the noun from 1597, in Richard II,^[2][5] and for the verb, to bring shame on, from 1594, in Lucrece,^[2] 1593 in Barnhart.^[3][11] Weekley compares the strengthening of disease and disgust.^[10] A thing or person that brings shame has been a disgrace since 1590, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "shame; ignominy; dishonour" first, and "state of dishonour" second.^[12]

Timeline

• 1549 – verb, to disfigure (obsolete).^[2][3]
• 1581 – noun, the disfavour of a powerful person.^[2]
• 1586 – the state of being out of favour.^[2]
• 1590 – a cause of shame.^[2]
• 1593 – verb, to dismiss from favour.^[2]
• 1594 – verb, to bring shame on.^[2]
• 1597 – noun, public dishonour, shame.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Loss of respect or honour; shame: He resigned in disgrace after the scandal.
2. A person or thing that is shameful or that brings shame: The state of these trains is a disgrace.
3. The condition of being out of favour with someone: After breaking the vase she was in disgrace with her aunt.

Verb

1. To bring shame or discredit on: Their behaviour disgraced the whole team.
2. To put out of favour or dismiss from a position with dishonour.
3. (archaic) To make something look poor by comparison.

Word family

• disgracer
• disgraceful

Related words

• grace
• gracious
• grateful
• gratis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.