Disgraced

How to spell disgraced

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce disgraced

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disgraced mean?

1. adjectiveHaving fallen from public honour or respect because of shameful conduct.
2. verbBrought shame or dishonour upon someone or something.

Disgraced in a sentence

• adjective

  The disgraced minister stepped down and left politics for good.

• verb

  The fraud disgraced the firm and cost hundreds of people their jobs.

• adjective

  A disgraced banker is rarely trusted with money again.

• verb

  His behaviour at the conference disgraced the whole team.

Where does disgraced come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of 'grace', which English took from Old French grace and ultimately from the Latin gratia, meaning 'favour', 'esteem', or 'a pleasing quality'. The prefix 'dis-' was added to express reversal or loss, giving the idea of being stripped of favour or held in low regard; the model came from Middle French disgracier and the Italian disgrazia, literally a 'fall from favour'. The verb 'disgrace' entered English in the sixteenth century, and 'disgraced' is simply its past tense and participle, used both for the action of shaming someone and as an adjective describing a person who has lost public honour. The same gratia root sits quietly inside everyday relatives such as 'gracious', 'grateful', and 'gratitude', all of them about favour and thanks. Because the root is 'grace', the spelling keeps that whole word intact: dis + grace + d, with the silent 'e' of grace preserved before the ending.

How the word is built

• dis- (reversal, removal)
• grace (from Latin gratia: favour, esteem)
• -ed (past participle / adjective ending)