stigmatic

1 of 2

noun

stig·​mat·​ic stig-ˈma-tik 

plural stigmatics

: a person marked with stigmata : a person with bodily marks or pains resembling the wounds of the crucified Jesus

The monk, a "Friar G.," is a stigmatic (who bleeds with the wounds of Jesus) with a cult following in Italy.

—Joseph P. Szimhart

called also stigmatist

stigmatic

2 of 2

adjective

1

: having or conveying a social stigma (see stigma sense 1a)

… the event is an opportunity for people to debunk the stigmatic social narrative that addiction has anything to do with morality.

—Lisa Vidaurri Bowling

2

: of or relating to the stigma of a flower (see stigma sense 2a)

While in most flowering plants the stigma is open to direct contact with the air and visiting insects, the five receptive stigma surfaces in milkweeds are enclosed within five stigmatic chambers, open to the world only through the narrow slit.

—Craig Holdrege

3

religion : of or relating to stigmata (see stigma sense 3a)

The walls also display pictures of Audrey with priests who have visited. But most arresting is another display on the wall that contains Audrey's pink rosary beads, a tissue touched by her tears, and a handkerchief stained by blood from her stigmatic wounds.

—Mathew N. Schmalz

stigmatically

stig-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of stigmatic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Eight, allergic to dust, asthmatic, stigmatic with mystery rashes, balanced tiptoe on a stack of peat briquettes wound in butcher’s twine, fingers smutty from Suttons Premium Polish Coal. —Dean Browne, The New York Review of Books, 27 May 2021

The Sisters have come a long way, but never strayed from their mission: to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt. —Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2023

And as for that stereotype? Kiah's teammates have never seen a glimmer of her breed's stigmatic aggression. —Sarah Schreiber, Good Housekeeping, 18 Nov. 2016

The next stop will be the home of stigmatic Rhoda Wise, where young Rita said she was healed of a debilitating stomach ailment. —Greg Garrison, AL.com, 18 Aug. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1594, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1607, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

stigmatic

adjective

stig·​mat·​ic stig-ˈmat-ik 

: anastigmatic

—used especially of a bundle of light rays intersecting at a single point

stigmatically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb