Word of the Day for Thursday April 14, 2005 obloquy \OB-luh-kwee\, noun: 1. Strongly condemnatory or abusive language or utterance. 2. The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of public blame, abuse, or condemnation; ill repute. There he remained, weeping indignantly at her stream of obloquy, bitterly ashamed of his tears, until it was time for supper. --Jonathan Keates, [1]Stendhal Once installed in office he earned near-universal obloquy by pushing through the biggest tax increase in the state's history. --Dan Seligman, "The Taxophiliacs," [2]Forbes, February 5, 2001 For Britain to have made a last imperial stand on the shores of the South China Sea would have risked local calamity and international obloquy. --Christopher Patten, East and West _________________________________________________________ Obloquy derives from Latin obloqui, "to speak against," from ob-, "against" + loqui, "to speak." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786705450/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 2. http://www.forbes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=obloquy