atimy · noun — public disgrace or stigma; outlawry; loss of civil rights. It carries an Arena rating of 1637, earned across 33 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, atimy ranks #642 of 17,205 for The Improbable, #788 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,781 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #2,352 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words.
atimy is pronounced /ˈætɪmi/.
Why “atimy” is a great word
ATIMY — [Noun] A legal penalty in ancient Greece that stripped a citizen of honor, civil rights, and social standing, rendering him an outlaw within his own polity. From Ancient Greek ἀτιμία (atimía, "disgrace, dishonor"), from ἀ- (a-, "without") + τιμή (timḗ, "honor, value"). Unlike "infamy," a notorious reputation for wickedness, or "ostracism," a temporary political exile by vote, atimy was a formal, crushing diminution of personhood. It is the cold chisel striking your name from the public register, the averted gaze of former companions in the agora, and the absolute severance from the protective rituals of the polis—the self, unmade by law and rendered a ghost in the city it once called home.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀτιμία (atimía, “disgrace”).
noun
- public disgrace or stigma; outlawry; loss of civil rightse.g.“the decree of atimy, or deprivation of rights and honors, which had been passed against him on occasion of the mutilation of the Mercuries[…]” — 1784-1810, William Mitford, The History of Greece:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- attainture 59% match — A state of being found guilty of an offence. vs atimy →
- attainted 59% match — Subject to attainder; condemned to death or outlawry, hence stripped of one's titles, hereditary rights, or possessions. vs atimy →
- attaintment 58% match — Attainder, attainture; conviction. vs atimy →
- ignominy 58% match — Great dishonor, shame, or humiliation. vs atimy →
- stigmatized 57% match — Subject to a stigma; marked as an outcast. vs atimy →
- disgrace 57% match — The condition of being out of favor; loss of favor, regard, or respect. vs atimy →
- attainder 57% match — The state a prisoner entered once a death sentence (usually for treason) had been issued; the state of being stripped of all civil rights. vs atimy →
- opprobrium 57% match — A cause, object, or situation of disgrace or shame. vs atimy →