Adjacent Words

Stigma definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STIGMA, n. [L., Gr., to prick or stick.]
1. A brand; a mark made with a burning iron.
2. Any mark of infamy; any reproachful conduct which stains the purity or darkens the luster of reputation.
3. In botany, the top of the pistil, which is moist and pubescent to detain and burst the pollen or prolific powder.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the apical end of the style where deposited pollen enters the pistil
2: a symbol of disgrace or infamy; "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain"--Genesis [syn: mark, stigma, brand, stain]
3: an external tracheal aperture in a terrestrial arthropod
4: a skin lesion that is a diagnostic sign of some disease

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural stigmata or stigmas) Etymology: Latin stigmat-, stigma mark, brand, from Greek, from stizein to tattoo — more at stick Date: circa 1593 1. a. archaic a scar left by a hot iron ; brand b. a mark of shame or discredit ; stain <bore the stigma of cowardice> c. an identifying mark or characteristic; specifically a specific diagnostic sign of a disease 2. a. stigmata plural bodily marks or pains resembling the wounds of the crucified Jesus and sometimes accompanying religious ecstasy b. petechia 3. a. a small spot, scar, or opening on a plant or animal b. the usually apical part of the pistil of a flower which receives the pollen grains and on which they germinate — see flower illustration • stigmal adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. stigmas or esp. in sense 4 stigmata) 1 a mark or sign of disgrace or discredit. 2 (foll. by of) a distinguishing mark or characteristic. 3 the part of a pistil that receives the pollen in pollination. 4 (in pl.) Eccl. (in Christian belief) marks corresponding to those left on Christ's body by the Crucifixion, said to have been impressed on the bodies of St Francis of Assisi and others. 5 a mark or spot on the skin or on a butterfly-wing. 6 Med. a visible sign or characteristic of a disease. 7 an insect's spiracle. Etymology: L f. Gk stigma -atos a mark made by a pointed instrument, a brand, a dot: rel. to STICK(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stigma Stig"ma, n.; pl. E. Stigmas, L. Stigmata. [L., a mark, a brand, from Gr. ?, ?, the prick or mark of a pointed instrument, a spot, mark, from ? to prick, to brand. See Stick, v. t.] 1. A mark made with a burning iron; a brand. 2. Any mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization. The blackest stigma that can be fastened upon him. --Bp. Hall. All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery. --Sir G. Buck. 3. (Bot.) That part of a pistil which has no epidermis, and is fitted to receive the pollen. It is usually the terminal portion, and is commonly somewhat glutinous or viscid. See Illust. of Stamen and of Flower. 4. (Anat.) A small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; -- applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots. 5. (Pathol.) A red speck upon the skin, produced either by the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy, or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards. 6. (Zo["o]l.) (a) One of the external openings of the trache[ae] of insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle. (b) One of the apertures of the pulmonary sacs of arachnids. See Illust. of Scorpion. (c) One of the apertures of the gill of an ascidian, and of Amphioxus. 7. (Geom.) A point so connected by any law whatever with another point, called an index, that as the index moves in any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a determinate way in the same plane. 8. pl. (R. C. Ch.) Marks believed to have been supernaturally impressed upon the bodies of certain persons in imitation of the wounds on the crucified body of Christ. See def. 5, above.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(stigmas) 1. If something has a stigma attached to it, people think it is something to be ashamed of. There is a strong argument for remaining an unmarried mother. There's no stigma attached any more... N-VAR 2. The stigma of a flower is the top of the centre part which takes in pollen. (TECHNICAL) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Mark (made with a hot iron), brand. 2. Stain, blot, disgrace, reproach, dishonor, shame, spot, blur, brand, tarnish, taint.

Moby Thesaurus

abscess, androecium, anther, aposteme, aspersion, attaint, badge of infamy, bar sinister, baton, bed sore, bend sinister, besmirchment, birthmark, black eye, black mark, blain, blaze, bleb, blemish, blister, bloodstain, blot, blotch, blur, boil, brand, broad arrow, bubo, bulla, bunion, calyx, canker, canker sore, carbuncle, carpel, caste mark, censure, champain, chancre, chancroid, check, checkmark, chilblain, cicatrix, cold sore, corolla, corolla tube, corona, cut, dab, dapple, daub, demerit, discoloration, disfigurement, disgrace, dishonor, disparagement, dot, earmark, engraving, epicalyx, eschar, eyesore, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula, fleck, flick, flyspeck, freckle, furuncle, furunculus, gash, gathering, graving, gumboil, gynoecium, hack, hemorrhoids, imputation, jot, kibe, lentigo, lesion, macula, maculation, macule, mark, mark of Cain, marking, megasporophyll, microsporophyll, mole, mottle, nevus, nick, notch, odium, onus, papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, patch, perianth, petal, petechia, piles, pillorying, pimple, pistil, pock, point, point champain, polka dot, polyp, prick, puncture, pustule, receptacle, reflection, reprimand, reproach, rising, scab, scar, scarification, score, scotch, scratch, scratching, shame, slur, smear, smirch, smouch, smudge, smut, smutch, soft chancre, sore, spatter, speck, speckle, splash, splatter, splotch, spot, stain, stamen, stigmatism, stigmatization, strawberry mark, sty, style, suppuration, swelling, taint, tarnish, tattoo, tattoo mark, tick, tittle, torus, tubercle, ulcer, ulceration, wale, watermark, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, wound