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Thursday September 17, 2009

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obloquy [OB-luh-kwee]

noun

1. Condemnatory speech; abusive language or utterance.
2. State of disgrace resulting from public abuse; cause of reproach.

• A cry of impeachment was brought forth by many. Patriots felt his behavior should warrant this end. The people smelt a rat. He maintained he was merely a victim of obloquy.
  Anonymous, "An American Changing of the Guard", Concord Monitor, Feb 6, 2009
• At the height of her obloquy, Princess Gloria famously barked like a dog on David Letterman's television talk show. "I really wish he would invite me on again," she said. "I remember those two visits to his show fondly, and I have changed so much since then."
  Horacio Silva, "Gloria in Extremis", New York Times, Dec 7, 2008
• There are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned, and sold again, by merchants in northern cities; and shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South?
  Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) An American abolitionist and author. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

Origin of the Word

Obloquy, approximately 1460, derives from Late Latin obloquium "speaking against, contradiction," from ob "against" + loqui "to speak," from PIE *tolkw-/*tlokw- "to speak."