Disreputableness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of having a bad reputation or being considered untrustworthy
2. The state of lacking respectability or being regarded as dishonorable
3. The condition of being seen as socially unacceptable or morally questionable

Etymology: "Disreputableness" is a plain English construction: the adjective "disreputable" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn it into a noun for a state or quality. The adjective itself is built from "reputable," which comes from Latin "reputare" ("to consider, reckon") with the suffix "-able," and the prefix "dis-" reverses it, so the adjective means something like "not worth considering well." Both pieces came into English through Old French, with the prefix "dis-" arriving in Middle English. The "-ness" ending is an old native English suffix, descended from Old English "-nes," which turned adjectives into nouns of quality, so "good" became "goodness" and "dark" became "darkness." Attaching it to a long Latinate adjective like "disreputable" is typical of how English keeps producing abstract nouns from existing words, so the result needs no special history of its own.

Synonyms: infamy, notoriety, dishonor, disgrace, opprobrium

Antonyms: respectability, honor, reputation, esteem, prestige