renown

Etymology

From Old French renoun (compare with Modern French renom), equivalent to re- + noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈnaʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊn

Noun

renown (usually uncountable, plural renowns)

1. Fame; celebrity; wide recognition.
   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     She is a theame of honour and renowne, / A ſpurre to valiant and magnanimous deeds, / Whoſe preſent courage may beate downe our foes, / And fame in time to come canonize us, […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 16:2:

     And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: […]

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book I, page 3:

     […] Nor envy we / Thy great Renown, nor grudge thy Victory; / 'Tis thine, O King, th' Afflicted to redreſs, / And Fame has fill'd the World with thy Succeſs; […]

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     There sleep the mighty dead as in life they slept, warriors and princes of high renown.

   • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 3, in Quinx‎, New York: Viking, page 63:

     […] one day local fame would become world renown […]

2. (obsolete) Reports of nobleness or achievements; praise.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     […] She / Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, / Of whom so often I have heard renown, / But never saw before;

Verb

renown (third-person singular simple present renowns, present participle renowning, simple past and past participle renowned)

1. (transitive) To make famous.