Etymologically
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disgrace

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 22:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /dɪsˈɡɹeɪs/, /dɪzˈɡɹeɪs/[1]
  • US: /dɪsˈɡɹeɪs/[1]

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

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.