Meaning & use
reputation
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Meanings
nouncountable
The opinion most people have of a person, business, or place, based on what it has done or is known for.
Grammar: Usually singular with an or the, often followed by for: a reputation for honesty.
Patterns
- a reputation for something
- have a reputation as something
- damage someone's reputation
The restaurant has a reputation for excellent seafood.
He worked hard to build a good reputation in the industry.
One bad review can damage a small shop's reputation.
nounsingular
A widely held view that someone is a certain type of person, usually unfavorable, as in having a bad name.
Grammar: Often used with an adjective like bad or terrible: she has a reputation for being difficult.
Patterns
- have a reputation for doing something
- live up to a reputation
He has a reputation for being late to every meeting.
The street has a bad reputation after dark.
She is trying to live down her reputation as a gossip.
Word forms
| plural | reputations |
|---|
Common combinations
- build a reputation
- It took years to build a reputation for quality.
- ruin a reputation
- The scandal ruined his reputation.
- good reputation
- The school has a good reputation in the area.
- live up to a reputation
- The team lived up to its reputation as strong defenders.
- reputation for
- She has a reputation for fairness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- standing
- Standing refers to your position or status in a group and sounds more formal than reputation.
- name
- Name is more casual and often appears in phrases such as make a name for yourself.
- image
- Image is the picture someone presents or tries to build, while reputation is what others actually believe.
- repute
- Repute is a formal and old-fashioned word that appears in set phrases like of good repute.
Opposites
Word family
- reputable adjective
- having a good reputation, trustworthy
- reputed adjective
- generally said or believed to be
- reputedly adverb
- according to what people say
- disreputable adjective
- having a bad reputation
- repute noun
- general opinion (formal)
Commonly confused: reputation or character? reputation or repetition?
reputation vs character
Character is what a person is really like inside, while reputation is what other people think they are like. The two can differ.
reputation vs repetition
Repetition means doing or saying something again and is unrelated to what people think of you.
Practice
What is the difference between a person's reputation and character?
Choose one answer.
Reputation is the outside opinion of others, and character is the inner qualities. The second option reverses this, and the others are simply wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “reputation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.