mindmap
root((PUT))
reputed
Believed to be a certain way by popular opinion.
🌱The 15th-century prince Vlad the Impaler is reputed to have inspired the character Dracula, though in fact, evil though Vlad was, Dracula's creator only borrowed his nickname. 🌳Reputed is used constantly today by reporters, and almost always to describe suspected criminals—"the reputed mobster," "the reputed drug kingpin," "the reputed gang leader," etc. But the word shouldn't be left to journalists; your elderly aunt may, for instance, be reputed to have made a large fortune in oil, or to have had four husbands who all died mysteriously. Reputed is easy to confuse with reputable, and they used to mean the same thing—that is, "having a good reputation"—but it's become rare to hear reputed used with that meaning today. disrepute Loss or lack of good reputation; disgrace.
🌱The family had fallen into disrepute after the conviction and imprisonment of his father and uncle. 🌳A reputation can be easy to lose, and someone who is no longer respectable may eventually find he's become genuinely disreputable—the kind of person that almost no one wants to be seen with. Disrepute isn't only for individuals: A company may fall into disrepute as a result of news stories about its products' defects; drug scandals have brought entire sports into disrepute; and a scientific theory may fall into disrepute as a result of new discoveries. impute To attribute.
🌱The British imputed motives of piracy to American ships trying to prevent them from interfering with American trade during the War of 1812. 🌳Imputing something to someone （or something） usually means observing something invisible in that person （or thing）. We may impute meaning to a play or novel, or to a casual remark by a friend, that was never intended. Many of us like to impute bad motives to others, while always regarding our own motives as pure. In tax law, imputed income is something that isn't actual money but might as well be—for example, the free use of a car lent to you by your employer. putative Generally supposed; assumed to exist.
🌱To strengthen the case for the defense, a putative expert took the stand. 🌳Putative is almost always used to express doubt or skepticism about a common belief. Thus, Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, a picturesque ruin, is the putative fortress of the medieval King Arthur. The residents of New York City are putatively chic, neurotic, rude, and dangerous. And cable TV is full of putative experts, who often turn out not to have much knowledge of the subjects they're talking about.
🌱The 15th-century prince Vlad the Impaler is reputed to have inspired the character Dracula, though in fact, evil though Vlad was, Dracula's creator only borrowed his nickname. 🌳Reputed is used constantly today by reporters, and almost always to describe suspected criminals—"the reputed mobster," "the reputed drug kingpin," "the reputed gang leader," etc. But the word shouldn't be left to journalists; your elderly aunt may, for instance, be reputed to have made a large fortune in oil, or to have had four husbands who all died mysteriously. Reputed is easy to confuse with reputable, and they used to mean the same thing—that is, "having a good reputation"—but it's become rare to hear reputed used with that meaning today. disrepute Loss or lack of good reputation; disgrace.
🌱The family had fallen into disrepute after the conviction and imprisonment of his father and uncle. 🌳A reputation can be easy to lose, and someone who is no longer respectable may eventually find he's become genuinely disreputable—the kind of person that almost no one wants to be seen with. Disrepute isn't only for individuals: A company may fall into disrepute as a result of news stories about its products' defects; drug scandals have brought entire sports into disrepute; and a scientific theory may fall into disrepute as a result of new discoveries. impute To attribute.
🌱The British imputed motives of piracy to American ships trying to prevent them from interfering with American trade during the War of 1812. 🌳Imputing something to someone （or something） usually means observing something invisible in that person （or thing）. We may impute meaning to a play or novel, or to a casual remark by a friend, that was never intended. Many of us like to impute bad motives to others, while always regarding our own motives as pure. In tax law, imputed income is something that isn't actual money but might as well be—for example, the free use of a car lent to you by your employer. putative Generally supposed; assumed to exist.
🌱To strengthen the case for the defense, a putative expert took the stand. 🌳Putative is almost always used to express doubt or skepticism about a common belief. Thus, Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, a picturesque ruin, is the putative fortress of the medieval King Arthur. The residents of New York City are putatively chic, neurotic, rude, and dangerous. And cable TV is full of putative experts, who often turn out not to have much knowledge of the subjects they're talking about.
PUT comes from the Latin verb putare, meaning "to think, consider, or believe." So, for example, a reputation is what others think of you. But when the root shows up in such words as compute, dispute, and deputy, its meaning is harder to trace.🌸