scarlet letter
Americannoun
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of scarlet letter
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His outsider status as a hunchback is instead a costume that presumably serves as scarlet letter or Star of David.
From Los Angeles Times
I believe he lived with a scarlet letter on him because of it.
From Los Angeles Times
"By taking a hand gesture that everyone makes and turning it into a scarlet letter they can brand literally anyone an evil feminist," he said.
From BBC
Rather than a badge of honor, Romney’s ultimate act of bipartisanship was seen by some Republican primary voters as a scarlet letter.
From Los Angeles Times
“But now I have, like, a scarlet letter and the medical stuff so even if I could go to work, my face would be doing gymnastics.”
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
