Fame

Pronunciation

• IPA: /feɪm/
• Rhymes: -eɪm

Origin

From Middle English, from Old French fame ("celebrity, renown"), from Latin fāma ("talk, rumor, report, reputation"), from Proto-Indo-European *bheh₂meh₂-, from Proto-Indo-European *bheh₂- ("to speak, say, tell"). Cognate with Ancient Greek φήμη (phēmē, "talk"). Related also to Latin for ("speak, say", verb.), Old English bōian ("to boast"), Old English bēn ("prayer, request"), Old English bannan ("to summon, command, proclaim"). More at ban.

Full definition of fame

Noun

1. (now rare) What is said or reported; gossip, rumour.
• 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, ll. 651-4:There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long
  Intended to create, and therein plant
  A generation, whom his choice regard
  Should favour ….
• 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin 2013, p. 23:If the accused could produce a specified number of honest neighbours to swear publicly that the suspicion was unfounded, and if no one else came forward to contradict them convincingly, the charge was dropped: otherwise the common fame was held to be true.
2. One's reputation.
3. The state of being famous or well-known and spoken of.
• William ShakespeareI find thou art no less than fame hath bruited.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

Derived terms

• hall of fame
• walk of fame

Verb

1. (transitive) To make (someone or something) famous.

Related terms

• famed
• famous

Anagrams

• FEMA