Noun
He achieved great renown for his discoveries.
Her photographs have earned her international renown.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Nevertheless, Ringgold did not achieve widespread renown until more than a decade after the American People series.—Christopher Parker, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Apr. 2024 Paul, who gained renown as a YouTube celebrity and has only ten fights to his professional credit, was born in 1997, the same year that an over-the-hill-seeming Tyson was disqualified from a title bout for chomping on Evander Holyfield’s ears.—Ben McGrath, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2024 The resulting cycles of exposure to the greater world of skin care — not only the dermatologists who study it, but the brands that control it, and the people who crave it — have conspired to make Dr. Day a physician of some renown.—Brennan Kilbane, Allure, 21 Mar. 2024 And yes, Shehadeh knows of the Blond Bomber’s renown in the ring.—Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 22 Feb. 2024 Science has its vaunted self-corrective impulse, but even so, few working scientists—and fewer still of those who gain significant renown—will ever really cop to their mistakes.—Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2024 As her renown increased, the media amassed a vast collection of anecdotes, brimming with rhetorical brilliance.—Cynthia Greenlee, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Feb. 2024 In 1974, at the height of his creativity and professional renown, unusually prolific architect Norman Jaffe completed a sprawling residence in the prestigious estate section of Long Island’s high-brow village of Old Westbury that’s now on the market for $13.5 million.—Mark David, Robb Report, 12 Jan. 2024 While Carewe’s renown extended well past his actual career, his baby brother Wallace was stealthy as a tortoise.—Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Verb
The Modern’s attention to his work helped set Mr. Botero on a path to renown.—Stephen Kinzer, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Sep. 2023 The old man in the piazza is experiencing something utterly alien to him: renown.—Salman Rushdie, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2020 Hixson started out as a florist, and became world-renown as a designer, teaching classes across the country and in Europe and Japan.—cleveland, 31 Dec. 2022 By hook or by crook, certainly by force of personality and not a wealth of resources, each one clawed his way to renown, carrying with him the language and character and history of the neighborhood.—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2022 Green, 32, is renown for his volatile nature on the court.—Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 7 Oct. 2022 But here’s a refresher: Massimo Osti founded the company in 1971, gaining renown by infusing military-style construction into everyday wear.—Barry Samaha, Robb Report, 29 Sep. 2022 The collective included a handful of hardware, software and wireless tinkerers who won renown for issuing public warnings about security flaws in programs.—Joseph Menn, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2022 Historically, the village was renown for its iris production whose scent was prized at the court of Catherine de’ Medici.—Cathy Huyghe, Forbes, 22 June 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'renown.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English renoun, from Anglo-French renum, renoun, from renomer to report, speak of, from re- + nomer to name, from Latin nominare, from nomin-, nomen name — more at name
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