Formal. Something ignominious makes you lose face in front of other people. The key idea is public shame, not private guilt.

Formal正式用語。 Something ignominious某件ignominious的事 makes you lose face in front of other people會讓你在別人面前丟臉。 The key idea is public shame重點是公開的羞恥, not private guilt而不是自己心裡的愧疚。

That is why it lives with a small set of nouns you will see again and again: an ignominious defeat, an ignominious end, an ignominious exit, an ignominious retreat. Sports writing and political writing love it — a team knocked out in the first round, a minister who has to resign over a scandal.

That is why it lives with a small set of nouns you will see again and again這就是為什麼它總是跟幾個固定的名詞一起出現: an ignominious defeat慘敗, an ignominious end不光彩的結局, an ignominious exit灰頭土臉的退場, an ignominious retreat狼狽的撤退。 Sports writing and political writing love it體育和政治的報導很愛用它 — a team knocked out in the first round像第一輪就被淘汰的隊伍, a minister who has to resign over a scandal或因醜聞下台的部長。

There is a useful difference between this word and 'ignoble': ignoble is about the quality of your motives (low, unworthy); ignominious is about how it looks when it goes wrong in public. You can lose ignominiously without doing anything morally wrong at all — you just lost badly, and everyone saw.

There is a useful difference between this word and 'ignoble'這個詞跟'ignoble'有個值得注意的差別: ignoble is about the quality of your motives'ignoble'是在講動機的品質 (low, unworthy)（低劣、不值得敬重）; ignominious is about how it looks when it goes wrong in public而ignominious是在講事情搞砸時，在大家面前是什麼樣子。 You can lose ignominiously without doing anything morally wrong at all你可以輸得很ignominiously，卻完全沒做錯任何道德上的事 — you just lost badly, and everyone saw你只是輸得很難看，而且大家都看到了。

Because it is long and formal, it also gets used half-jokingly for small embarrassments: 'my ignominious failure to open the jar'. That joking use is common and worth knowing.

Because it is long and formal因為它又長又正式, it also gets used half-jokingly for small embarrassments也會被半開玩笑地用在小小的糗事上: 'my ignominious failure to open the jar'像'my ignominious failure to open the jar'（我開罐子開得灰頭土臉）。 That joking use is common and worth knowing這種玩笑式用法很常見，值得知道。