Word Adjective
disgraceful
adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US /dɪsˈɡɹeɪsfəɫ/ UK /dɪsɡɹˈeɪsfəl/ dis·grace·ful
Definition
adj.very bad or shocking in a way that makes people feel angry or ashamed.
adj.deserving of strong condemnation or social disapproval due to a lack of morality or standards.
Examples
“The state of the public toilets is disgraceful.”
“It is disgraceful that the company refused to pay its workers for the extra hours they worked.”
“The committee found the lack of oversight to be disgraceful, noting that such negligence had directly led to the catastrophic failure of the infrastructure project.”
Usage
Often used predicatively after linking verbs like 'be', 'look', or 'seem'.
Etymology
From disgrace + -ful.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated