Fame Meaning
/feɪm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounSomething said or reported; gossip, rumour.
nounOne's reputation.
Sentence Examples
Despite adversity, the ingenious man achieved worldwide fame.
Despite adversity, the architect achieved worldwide fame.
Fame brought her nothing but misery.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Despite her ____ as a singer, she remained humble and kind.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young actor found sudden ____ after starring in a popular television series last year.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fame, from Old French fame (“celebrity, renown”), itself borrowed from Latin fāma (“talk, rumor, report, reputation”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂-meh₂, from *bʰeh₂- (“to speak, say, tell”). Cognate with Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē, “talk”). Related also to Latin for (“speak, say”, verb), Old English bōian (“to boast”), Old English bēn (“prayer, request”), Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim”). More at ban. Displaced native Old English hlīsa.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long / Intended to create, and therein plant / A generation, whom his choice regard / Should favour […]."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 651-4:
"If the accused could produce a specified number of honest neighbours to swear publicly that the suspicion was unfounded, and if no one else came forward to contradict them convincingly, the charge was dropped: otherwise the common fame was held to be true."
— 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 23:
"I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited."
— c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
"I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Despite her ____ as a singer, she remained humble and kind.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young actor found sudden ____ after starring in a popular television series last year.