Notoriously

How to spell notoriously

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce notoriously

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does notoriously mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is widely known, usually for something bad or undesirable.

Notoriously in a sentence

• The city's traffic is notoriously slow during the morning commute.

• That printer is notoriously unreliable, so the office keeps a spare.

Where does notoriously come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin notorius, meaning 'well-known' or 'commonly recognised', which itself grew from notus, the past participle of noscere, 'to come to know'. In its earliest Latin and Medieval Latin use the sense was simply neutral: something notorious was something widely known, with no shame attached. English took up notorious in the early 1500s, and at first an upright citizen could be notorious for good qualities just as easily as for bad ones. Over the following centuries the word drifted toward disapproval, so that today it almost always points to fame for something undesirable. The adverb notoriously is the adjective notorious plus the ordinary -ly ending, and the spelling stays faithful to that Latin notus root, which is also why the same family gives us 'note', 'notice', and 'notable'.

How the word is built

• notori- (from Latin notorius: well-known)
• -ous (full of, adjective)
• -ly (adverb)