Infamous means famous for something bad. An infamous case, infamous for it, the infamous letter.
The commonest error with it is assuming that in- means not, so that infamous means unknown — it does not: infamous is famous with a bad reason attached. Notorious is the near equivalent. In old law, infamy was a formal loss of civil rights following conviction. Note infamy, which Roosevelt used in 1941 in the most quoted sentence containing it; and that infamous is stressed on the first syllable — IN-famous.
1adjectiveinfamousFamous for something bad.
“The prison became infamous for the cruel way it treated its inmates.”
synonyms: notorious
infamous is a quality of bad fame.
Also accepted in games: notorious
Latin infamis is in-, not, plus fama, good report — so the negative attaches to the reputation rather than to the fame. Somebody infamous has fame of the wrong kind, which is exactly what the Latin says.
Latin
īnfāmis
Medieval Latin
īnfāmōsus
Middle English
enfamouse
English, today
infamous
From Middle English enfamouse, in-fames, infamous, from Medieval Latin īnfāmōsus, from Latin īnfāmis; by surface analysis, in- + famous. Displaced native unhlīsful.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA