Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

stigma

Syllabification: (stig·ma)
Pronunciation: /ˈstigmə/

Translate stigma | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of stigma

noun (plural stigmas or especially in sense 2 stigmata /stigˈmätə, ˈstigmətə/)

  • 1a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person:the stigma of mental disorder to be a nonreader carries a social stigma
  • 2 (stigmata) (in Christian tradition) marks corresponding to those left on Jesus' body by the Crucifixion, said to have been impressed by divine favor on the bodies of St. Francis of Assisi and others.
  • 3 Medicine a visible sign or characteristic of a disease.
  • a mark or spot on the skin.
  • 4 Botany (in a flower) the part of a pistil that receives the pollen during pollination.

Origin:

late 16th century (denoting a mark made by pricking or branding): via Latin from Greek stigma 'a mark made by a pointed instrument, a dot'; related to stick1

stigma in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of stigma in the British & World English dictionary
  |  Cite

More results for stigma

Word of the day

merrythought

/ /
noun
the wishbone of a bird …