stigma

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: stig=ma

CIDE DICTIONARY

stigma, n. [L., a mark, a brand, from Gr. , , the prick or mark of a pointed instrument, a spot, mark, from to prick, to brand. See Stick, v. t.].

•  A mark made with a burning iron; a brand.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization.  [1913 Webster]

  "The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him."  [1913 Webster]

  "All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery."  [1913 Webster]
•  That part of a pistil which has no epidermis, and is fitted to receive the pollen. It is usually the terminal portion, and is commonly somewhat glutinous or viscid. See Illust. of Stamen and of Flower.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; -- applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots.  [1913 Webster]
•  A red speck upon the skin, produced either by the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy, or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the external openings of the tracheæ of insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle.  [1913 Webster]
•  A point so connected by any law whatever with another point, called an index, that as the index moves in any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a determinate way in the same plane.  [1913 Webster]
•  Marks believed to have been supernaturally impressed upon the bodies of certain persons in imitation of the wounds on the crucified body of Christ. See def. 5, above.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stigma, n. (pl. stigmas or esp. in sense 4 stigmata)
1 a mark or sign of disgrace or discredit.
2 (foll. by of) a distinguishing mark or characteristic.
3 the part of a pistil that receives the pollen in pollination.
4 (in pl.) Eccl. (in Christian belief) marks corresponding to those left on Christ's body by the Crucifixion, said to have been impressed on the bodies of St Francis of Assisi and others.
5 a mark or spot on the skin or on a butterfly-wing.
6 Med. a visible sign or characteristic of a disease.
7 an insect's spiracle.

Etymology

L f. Gk stigma -atos a mark made by a pointed instrument, a brand, a dot: rel. to STICK(1)

THESAURUS

stigma

abscess, androecium, anther, aposteme, aspersion, attaint, badge of infamy, bar sinister, baton, bed sore, bend sinister, besmirchment, birthmark, black eye, black mark, blain, blaze, bleb, blemish, blister, bloodstain, blot, blotch, blur, boil, brand, broad arrow, bubo, bulla, bunion, calyx, canker, canker sore, carbuncle, carpel, caste mark, censure, champain, chancre, chancroid, check, checkmark, chilblain, cicatrix, cold sore, corolla, corolla tube, corona, cut, dab, dapple, daub, demerit, discoloration, disfigurement, disgrace, dishonor, disparagement, dot, earmark, engraving, epicalyx, eschar, eyesore, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula, fleck, flick, flyspeck, freckle, furuncle, furunculus, gash, gathering, graving, gumboil, gynoecium, hack, hemorrhoids, imputation, jot, kibe, lentigo, lesion, macula, maculation, macule, mark, mark of Cain, marking, megasporophyll, microsporophyll, mole, mottle, nevus, nick, notch, odium, onus, papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, patch, perianth, petal, petechia, piles, pillorying, pimple, pistil, pock, point, point champain, polka dot, polyp, prick, puncture, pustule, receptacle, reflection, reprimand, reproach, rising, scab, scar, scarification, score, scotch, scratch, scratching, shame, slur, smear, smirch, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soft chancre, sore, spatter, speck, speckle, splash, splatter, splotch, spot, stain, stamen, stigmatism, stigmatization, strawberry mark, sty, style, suppuration, swelling, taint, tarnish, tattoo, tattoo mark, tick, tittle, torus, tubercle, ulcer, ulceration, wale, watermark, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, wound

ROGET THESAURUS

stigma

Disrepute

N disrepute, discredit, ill repute, bad repute, bad name, bad odor, bad favor, ill name, ill odor, ill favor, disapprobation, ingloriousness, derogation, abasement, debasement, abjectness, degradation, dedecoration, a long farewell to all my greatness, odium, obloquy, opprobrium, ignominy, dishonor, disgrace, shame, humiliation, scandal, baseness, vileness, turpitude, infamy, tarnish, taint, defilement, pollution, stain, blot, spot, blur, stigma, brand, reproach, imputation, slur, crying shame, burning shame, scandalum magnatum, badge of infamy, blot in one's escutcheon, bend sinister, bar sinister, champain, point champain, byword of reproach, Ichabod, argumentum ad verecundiam, sense of shame, disgraced, blown upon, shorn of its beams, shorn of one's glory, overcome, downtrodden, loaded with shame, in bad repute, out of repute, out of favor, out of fashion, out of countenance, at a discount, under a cloud, under an eclipse, unable to show one's face, in the shade, in the background, out at elbows, down at the elbows, down in the world, inglorious, nameless, renownless, obscure, unknown to fame, unnoticed, unnoted, unhonored, unglorified, shameful, disgraceful, discreditable, disreputable, despicable, questionable, unbecoming, unworthy, derogatory, degrading, humiliating, infra dignitatem, dedecorous, scandalous, infamous, too bad, unmentionable, ribald, opprobrious, errant, shocking, outrageous, notorious, ignominious, scrubby, dirty, abject, vile, beggarly, pitiful, low, mean, shabby base, to one's shame be it spoken, Int, fie!, shame!, for shame!, proh pudor!, O tempora!, O mores!, ough!, sic transit gloria mundi!.