Synonyms of notorious are words for a special kind of fame: being known by everyone, for exactly the wrong reason. To be notorious /nəˈtɔːɹi.əs/ /nəʊˈtɔːɹi.əs/ is to be famous for something bad — a crime, a scandal, a habit nobody defends. Common examples are infamous, disreputable, scandalous, and ill-famed. Never use it as a compliment: that is the first lesson of this word.
| Synonym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Infamous | famous for something evil |
| Disreputable | having a bad reputation |
| Scandalous | shocking in a shameful way |
| Nefarious | wicked, criminal in intent |
| Shameful | bringing shame or disgrace |
| Ill-famed | known for bad reasons |
| Dubious | of suspect, doubtful character |
| Well-known | known by many people |
| Renowned | widely talked about, admired |
| Legendary | famous in story and talk |
Below, you will find 29 clear synonyms for notorious, each with a simple meaning and two easy examples. The first ten are the infamous core, the next nine are the shady middle, and the last ten are ordinary fame words that only turn negative when the story around them does.
Main Content: 29 Synonyms for Notorious
The infamous core — famous for wrongdoing (1–10). These words carry the full weight of the headword: the person, place, or deed is widely known, and what it is known for is bad.
1. Infamous /ˈɪnfəməs/
- Meaning: famous for something evil, cruel, or criminal. Infamous is the closest synonym of notorious in the language — the two swap places in most sentences — but infamous leans a little harder into wickedness, where notorious leans into talk: everyone has heard of it.
- Examples: The infamous outlaw hid in the hills for eleven years. An infamous speech opened the darkest chapter of the war.
2. Nefarious /nɪˈfɛɹi.əs/ /nɪˈfɛəɹi.əs/
- Meaning: wicked and criminal in intent; used for schemes, plots, and activities rather than for fame itself. A nefarious plan is evil before it is famous — the word judges the deed first and the reputation second, which is why storytellers love it for villains.
- Examples: The spies met at midnight for some nefarious purpose. His nefarious scheme to drain the fund was exposed by one honest clerk.
3. Ill-famed /ˌɪlˈfeɪmd/
- Meaning: known for bad reasons; having an evil name. Ill-famed says the quiet part of notorious out loud — the fame itself is ill, sick, tainted. It is an older, more bookish word, and writers reach for it when they want the disgrace to sound settled and long-standing.
- Examples: Sailors avoided the ill-famed port after dark. The ill-famed inn changed its name three times and fooled nobody.
4. Disreputable /dɪsˈɹɛpjətəbəl/
- Meaning: having a bad reputation; not respected or trusted. Disreputable is the reputation word of the family: it is less about one famous crime and more about the steady judgement of neighbours — the shop, the firm, or the uncle that decent people quietly warn you about.
- Examples: He kept disreputable company in his gambling years. The disreputable hotel rented rooms by the hour, no questions asked.
5. Scandalous /ˈskændələs/
- Meaning: shocking and shameful; causing public outrage or disgrace. Scandalous names the reaction as much as the deed — a scandalous act is one the whole town talks about with raised eyebrows, which is exactly how a notorious name is born.
- Examples: The minister resigned after the scandalous letters were published. It is scandalous that the hospital had no clean water.
6. Ignominious /ˌɪɡnəˈmɪni.əs/
- Meaning: deserving or causing public shame and disgrace; humiliating. Ignominious is the most formal word in this core group — the word of history books — and it usually describes an end: an ignominious defeat, an ignominious fall from office, a career closing in disgrace.
- Examples: The general suffered an ignominious defeat and never commanded again. Their season ended in an ignominious last place.
7. Shameful /ˈʃeɪmfəl/
- Meaning: bringing shame; worthy of disgrace. Shameful judges the act itself, and only when the act is repeated in public does the person become notorious for it. It is the plainest moral word in the list, understood by every learner and felt by every reader.
- Examples: Cheating a blind customer is a shameful way to earn money. The report described shameful neglect in the old people’s home.
8. Disgraceful /dɪsˈɡɹeɪsfəl/
- Meaning: shockingly bad; bringing disgrace on whoever is responsible. Where shameful looks at the feeling, disgraceful looks at the fall — honour lost in public. British sports pages use it daily for a disgraceful performance; courts use it for disgraceful conduct.
- Examples: The fans called the referee’s decision disgraceful. Leaving the wounded behind was a disgraceful order.
9. Dishonorable /dɪsˈɑnəɹəbəl/ /dɪsˈɒnəɹəbəl/
- Meaning: showing a lack of honour; base and unworthy of respect (British spelling: dishonourable). A dishonorable act breaks a code — a soldier’s, a doctor’s, a friend’s — and when the breaking becomes public knowledge, the person joins the notorious.
- Examples: He took a dishonorable bribe and sold the plans. The army gave the spy a dishonorable discharge.
10. Discreditable /dɪsˈkɹɛdɪtəbəl/
- Meaning: damaging to someone’s reputation; bringing discredit. Discreditable is the mildest word in the core group and the most official: it is the language of inquiries and reports, where conduct is judged to have lowered a person or an institution in the public eye.
- Examples: The inquiry found his private deals highly discreditable. A discreditable episode in her past returned during the election.
The shady middle — disgrace you can smell (11–19). These words judge character, conduct, and quality. The fame may be smaller, but the smell is unmistakable: something here is not clean.
11. Opprobrious /əˈpɹoʊbɹi.əs/ /əˈpɹəʊbɹi.əs/
- Meaning: expressing or deserving public disgrace and scorn. Opprobrious is a rare, heavy, bookish word — the strongest scorn in this list — kept for conduct so bad that ordinary words like shameful feel too light for it.
- Examples: The dictator’s opprobrious rule is remembered with hatred. He hurled opprobrious names at the departing minister.
12. Ill-reputed /ˌɪlɹɪˈpjuːtɪd/
- Meaning: having a bad reputation; thought badly of. Ill-reputed is ill-famed’s quieter twin, surviving today mostly inside the fixed phrase “a house of ill repute”. Outside that phrase it sounds old-fashioned, which can be exactly the flavour a historical story needs.
- Examples: The novel opens in an ill-reputed quarter of the old city. An ill-reputed moneylender worked from the back room.
13. Unsavory /ʌnˈseɪvəɹi/
- Meaning: unpleasant and morally offensive; distasteful in character (British spelling: unsavoury). The word borrows from taste — an unsavory person or business leaves a bad flavour — and newspapers use it for the associates and dealings respectable people would rather not explain.
- Examples: The candidate tried to hide his unsavory friends. An unsavory smell of corruption hung over the whole deal.
14. Shady /ˈʃeɪdi/
- Meaning: (informal) seeming dishonest or illegal; hard to trust. Shady is notorious in miniature and in modern dress: a shady dealer, a shady transaction, a shady past. It suggests the wrongdoing rather than proving it, which makes it the everyday word of suspicion.
- Examples: A shady character offered him double money for one small favour. The firm’s shady accounts finally drew the tax officers’ attention.
15. Dubious /ˈduːbi.əs/ /ˈdjuːbi.əs/
- Meaning: of suspect or doubtful character; not to be relied on. A dubious honour, a dubious distinction, a dubious record — the word is famous inside one joke of the language: to win a dubious honour is to be notorious in fancy dress, praised in words and condemned in meaning.
- Examples: He holds the dubious honour of being fined in every stadium in the league. The company has a dubious record on workers’ safety.
16. Questionable /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/
- Meaning: doubtful in honesty, morals, or quality; open to question. Questionable is the polite professional’s word — questionable practices, questionable taste, questionable expenses — and it is how reports say “notorious in the making” without risking a lawsuit.
- Examples: The charity’s questionable spending angered its donors. His questionable past kept him out of the security job.
17. Egregious /ɪˈɡɹiːdʒəs/
- Meaning: outstandingly bad; shocking in its size or boldness. Egregious describes the deed, not the fame — an egregious error, an egregious lie — but deeds this large do not stay private for long, and their authors wake up notorious.
- Examples: The report was full of egregious errors that changed its meaning. An egregious breach of trust ended the partnership in a day.
18. Flagrant /ˈfleɪɡɹənt/
- Meaning: (of a wrong) done openly and shockingly, without shame. A flagrant foul, a flagrant violation, a flagrant disregard — the wrongdoing is not hidden at all, and that openness is the whole point: the doer did not even bother to pretend.
- Examples: The player was sent off for a flagrant foul. Their flagrant disregard for the rules closed the club for a month.
19. Blatant /ˈbleɪtənt/
- Meaning: done openly and unashamedly; obvious and offensive. Blatant and flagrant are close cousins: flagrant belongs to rules and fouls, blatant to lies, cheating, and copying. A blatant lie is one told to your face — which is why blatant offenders so often become notorious ones.
- Examples: It was a blatant lie, and the recordings proved it in seconds. The essay was a blatant copy of his classmate’s work.
Well-known words — fame that turns in context (20–29). These ten words are innocent by themselves: they say only that many people know the name. Whether they praise or condemn depends entirely on what the name is known for — which is why each one needs its warning note.
20. Well-known /ˌwɛlˈnoʊn/ /ˌwɛlˈnəʊn/
- Meaning: known by many people; familiar to all. Well-known is the neutral base of this whole family — a well-known singer, a well-known fact — and it becomes a synonym of notorious only when a negative phrase follows it: well-known for delays, well-known to the police.
- Examples: The crossing is well-known for accidents in the fog. He is well-known in the town, though not for reasons he would choose.
21. Famed /feɪmd/
- Meaning: much talked about; having a wide reputation. Famed usually carries praise — a famed chef, a famed garden — but the word itself only measures the talk, not its kindness, and old stories happily call a famed robber exactly that.
- Examples: The famed highwayman held up coaches on this very road. She is famed for a temper as much as for her acting.
22. Renowned /ɹɪˈnaʊnd/
- Meaning: known and talked about by many; usually admired. Renowned is the most respectful word in this group, which is why it must never be used for criminals without irony — “the renowned thief” sounds like praise, and your reader will hear the joke before the fact.
- Examples: The valley is renowned for its storms as much as its wine. A surgeon renowned for saving hopeless cases took the operation.
23. Celebrated /ˈsɛlɪˌbɹeɪtɪd/
- Meaning: greatly praised and honoured; famous. Celebrated is a praise word — yet nineteenth-century newspapers called famous trials and famous villains “celebrated cases” and “celebrated criminals”, using it to mean only that everyone was talking. That older use survives in history writing.
- Examples: The celebrated trial filled the newspapers for a year. A celebrated forger finally signed his own name by mistake.
24. Illustrious /ɪˈlʌstɹi.əs/
- Meaning: famous and much admired, usually for past achievements. Illustrious is pure honour — an illustrious career, an illustrious family — and it appears in a notorious list only as a warning: used about a villain, it can only be sarcasm, and sarcasm in writing is a debt the reader must collect.
- Examples: The college counts judges and poets among its illustrious graduates. Calling the swindler illustrious was the columnist’s driest joke of the year.
25. Prominent /ˈpɹɑmɪnənt/ /ˈpɹɒmɪnənt/
- Meaning: important and well-known in a field or place. Prominent says nothing about character at all — a prominent lawyer may be honest or corrupt — which is why news reports use it for people in scandal: it states their height in the world before the fall is described.
- Examples: A prominent banker was arrested at dawn. The prominent landmark can be seen from every boat in the harbour.
26. Notable /ˈnoʊtəbəl/ /ˈnəʊtəbəl/
- Meaning: deserving attention; important enough to be noticed. Notable is neutral and a little formal: a notable exception, a notable failure, a notable speech. It joins this list because a notable scandal is one step from a notorious one — attention is the raw material of both.
- Examples: The report lists three notable failures in the safety system. Her most notable exploit was escaping from two prisons in one year.
27. Noted /ˈnoʊtɪd/ /ˈnəʊtɪd/
- Meaning: well-known for a particular quality, good or bad. In the pattern “noted for…”, this small word does notorious’s quiet work: noted for his temper, noted for her late payments, noted for its floods. The for-phrase decides everything, exactly as it does with the headword itself.
- Examples: The general was noted for his cruelty to prisoners. An island noted for shipwrecks finally received its lighthouse.
28. Legendary /ˈlɛdʒənˌdɛɹi/ /ˈlɛdʒəndɹi/
- Meaning: so famous that stories are told about the person or thing. Legendary outlaws, legendary tempers, legendary appetites — when fame ripens into story, praise and blame blur together, and the legendary villain is retold at firesides long after the victims are forgotten.
- Examples: The smuggler’s escapes became legendary along the coast. Her legendary stinginess is still quoted in the family, with laughter.
29. Recognized /ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪzd/
- Meaning: accepted and known as something; identified by all (British spelling: recognised). Recognized is the official member of this group — a recognized authority, a recognized danger — and in the phrase “a recognized menace” it certifies a bad reputation the way a stamp certifies a letter.
- Examples: The bend is a recognized blackspot, marked on every police map. He is a recognized expert, consulted whenever the river floods.
Synonyms for Notorious in Crime and Scandal Reporting
Newsrooms live on the core of this list. Many synonyms of notorious earn their keep in a single sentence under a headline, where the reporter must say “everyone knows this name, and not fondly” without printing an opinion. The working words are infamous /ˈɪnfəməs/ for the crime itself, disreputable /dɪsˈɹɛpjətəbəl/ for the company kept, and scandalous /ˈskændələs/ for the public reaction. For the character behind the crime, reporters reach one shelf lower, to the cold, frightening words collected in our guide to synonyms for vile.
The professional rule is precision about what is proven. Before a verdict, careful papers write “the accused”, and save infamous for the convicted and the historical; after a verdict, the word is safe and exact. A reporter who calls a living suspect notorious has written the conclusion of a trial that has not happened — and editors delete the sentence, or lawyers circle it.
Synonyms for Notorious for Places and Habits
People are not the only things that earn a bad name. Places, roads, weather, and habits collect these words too, and four of them do most of the work:
- Infamous /ˈɪnfəməs/ Meaning: the place’s bad fame is settled history. Examples: The infamous prison island held its last prisoner in 1963.
- Noted /ˈnoʊtɪd/ /ˈnəʊtɪd/ Meaning: the pattern everyone warns travellers about. Examples: A coast noted for sudden storms keeps its lifeboat busy.
- Flagrant /ˈfleɪɡɹənt/ Meaning: for habits and breaches done in the open. Examples: Flagrant dumping by the factory poisoned the stream.
- Blatant /ˈbleɪtənt/ Meaning: for the open, unashamed habit everyone can see. Examples: Blatant fare-dodging cost the railway millions a year.
A place keeps its bad name long after it earns a good one — a prison island stays “the infamous island” in guidebooks for a century. Habits work the same way in a family: the uncle’s blatant cheating at cards is still the first story told about him, fifty years on.
Notorious, Infamous, Famous: Three Words, Three Verdicts
These three words measure the same thing — how many people know the name — and then deliver three different verdicts on it. Famous delivers no verdict, or a kind one: the name is known, and the knowing is neutral or warm. Notorious /nəˈtɔːɹi.əs/ /nəʊˈtɔːɹi.əs/ delivers the social verdict: known, and talked about with disapproval. Infamous /ˈɪnfəməs/ delivers the moral verdict: known, because the deed was wicked. Our synonyms of fame guide maps the whole bright staircase; this article is about its shadow side.
The commonest learner’s mistake in this whole area is reaching for notorious as a stronger famous — writing “a notorious singer” as praise. Native ears hear an insult every time. If the fame is good, say famous, celebrated, or renowned; if it is bad, notorious and infamous are waiting, and they are never compliments.
Another Word for Notorious in Polite or Formal Writing
Sometimes the writer knows the reputation is bad but cannot print a fighting word: a reference letter, an official report, a careful biography. English keeps a polite shelf for exactly this problem. Disreputable /dɪsˈɹɛpjətəbəl/ states the judgement flatly, questionable /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/ raises an eyebrow in print, and the old phrase of ill repute — the living form of ill-reputed /ˌɪlɹɪˈpjuːtɪd/ — lets a historian condemn with a straight face and perfect manners.
At the far end of politeness stands pure description: “known for his part in the riots”, “remembered chiefly for the scandal”. Dropping the adjective and stating the fact is the most formal move of all — the reader supplies the verdict, and the verdict, supplied by the reader, is the one nobody argues with.
Strong Synonyms for Notorious
When the bad fame must hit at full strength, three words outrank the rest. Infamous /ˈɪnfəməs/ is the strongest all-round choice — fame and wickedness in a single word. Nefarious /nɪˈfɛɹi.əs/ /nɪˈfɛəɹi.əs/ is the strongest for schemes and deeds, evil by design. And ignominious /ˌɪɡnəˈmɪni.əs/ is the strongest for endings — the fall, the defeat, the disgrace that history records. Choose infamous for the name, nefarious for the plan, and ignominious for the collapse.
Milder Synonyms for Notorious
Some words in the family point at a bad name with a gloved hand. Start with these:
- Well-known /ˌwɛlˈnoʊn/ /ˌwɛlˈnəʊn/ Meaning: neutral by itself; the for-phrase carries the warning. Examples: A junction well-known for its queues tests every driver’s patience.
- Noted /ˈnoʊtɪd/ /ˈnəʊtɪd/ Meaning: quietly famous for one named quality. Examples: A manager noted for sudden rages keeps a nervous office.
- Dubious /ˈduːbi.əs/ /ˈdjuːbi.əs/ Meaning: suspect, delivered with a raised eyebrow. Examples: The firm won the dubious honour of the year’s worst service award.
- Questionable /ˈkwɛstʃənəbəl/ Meaning: the report-writer’s gentle warning. Examples: Questionable methods brought quick money and slow trouble.
- Shady /ˈʃeɪdi/ Meaning: informal suspicion, nothing yet proven. Examples: A shady offer arrived by text at midnight.
Synonyms and Antonyms of Notorious
Notorious is fame with a stain: infamous, disreputable, and scandalous at its core; dubious and questionable at its polite edge; well-known and noted where the stain is supplied by context alone. Reputation is a feeling before it is a fact — pride on one side, shame on the other — which is why this family sits so close to the map in our emotion synonyms hub. At the far end stand the true opposites. For the reputation itself: reputable /ˈɹɛpjətəbəl/ , trusted and well thought of; respectable /ɹɪˈspɛktəbəl/ , decent and approved; honorable /ˈɑnəɹəbəl/ /ˈɒnəɹəbəl/, deserving honour (British: honourable); esteemed /ɪˈstiːmd/ , held in warm respect; and upright /ˈʌpɹaɪt/ , honest in every dealing. For the fame itself: unknown /ʌnˈnoʊn/ /ʌnˈnəʊn/, known by nobody; obscure /əbˈskjʊɹ/ /əbˈskjʊə/, little known and little noticed; and anonymous /əˈnɑnəməs/ /əˈnɒnɪməs/, without a name attached at all. The contrast is the lesson: a notorious name is a known name, judged — and judgement, unlike fame, can still be earned back.
FAQ Section: People Also Ask
What are the best synonyms of notorious?
The closest all-purpose synonyms are infamous, disreputable, scandalous, and ill-famed. Infamous matches the headword almost exactly, disreputable stresses the ruined reputation, scandalous stresses the public shock, and ill-famed gives the same idea an older, bookish colour.
For gentler rooms, choose by distance. Dubious and questionable warn without accusing, shady suspects in informal speech, and well-known or noted let a following for-phrase deliver the bad news while the adjective itself stays clean.
What is the difference between famous and notorious?
Famous is neutral or kind: a famous singer is known, and the knowing is praise or simple fact. Notorious is famous with the verdict reversed — the person, place, or thing is known because of something bad, and every listener understands the disapproval without being told.
The mistake to avoid is using notorious as a grander famous for people you admire. “A notorious poet” tells an English reader that the poet is disgraced, not celebrated. For good fame, use famous, celebrated, renowned, or famed; save notorious for the fame nobody wants.
How do you pronounce notorious?
In American English, say notorious /nəˈtɔːɹi.əs/ ; in British English, /nəʊˈtɔːɹi.əs/ . Either way, the word has four syllables — no-TOR-ee-us — and the stress falls on the second one.
Watch the first syllable as you say it. It is a quick, weak “no” — never “not” — which is why learners who read the spelling letter by letter say NOT-orious, while the living word flows as no-TOR-ee-us.
Is notorious always negative?
In modern English, yes — that is the safe rule. Dictionaries define the word as known widely and unfavourably, and modern readers hear the disapproval automatically, in headlines, novels, and conversation alike.
Older writing occasionally used notorious to mean simply “publicly known”, with no blame attached, and a fossil of that sense survives in the legal phrase “open and notorious”. Outside that phrase and old books, treat the word as negative every time — and never pay it to anyone as a compliment.
Conclusion
The synonyms of notorious all circle one uncomfortable truth: a name can be known by everyone and valued by no one. Whether the word is infamous for a crime, disreputable for a lifetime of company kept, or merely noted for a temper, it always records the same event — fame arriving with its verdict already written.
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Use the word that fits your verdict, and guard the name behind your own words in every season — our synonyms of consistent guide collects the words for exactly that steadiness, the slow habit by which good reputations are actually built.
“In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
Fifteen minutes or five hundred years, fame itself is neutral weather; the verdict is the climate. Choose the precise word — and then live so that nobody needs it for you.
Nighat Fatima is a linguist with an M.A. in Linguistics and an M.Ed. She has 7 years of experience teaching English language to postgraduate classes and 6 years of experience in content writing.
