stigma

1. (figurative) A negative and often unfair attitude (held by a group or society, to something).Examples: "Yet, because of the stigma around nursing home placement, it is hard to find advocates from among the natural advocacy groups the families. You don't see families organized around long-term care as you do around specific diseases."; "Hence, the stigma attached to mental disorders in general forms the basis of the stigma towards women with mental health problems. […]"; "Coming into contact with the person affected by mental illness can help reduce the stigma that the public has towards the illness."figuratively

2. (Christianity, chiefly in the plural stigmata) A mark on the body corresponding to one of the wounds of the Crucifixion on Jesus's body, and sometimes reported to bleed periodically.

3. (literary, figurative) An outward sign; an indication.Examples: "Bradly scowled - the stigmata of alarm. What ultimate threat to his peace and privacy did this dropping in by young Podson imply?"figurativelyliterary

4. (botany) The sticky part of a flower that receives pollen during pollination.Examples: "Black crowberry. Empetrum nigrum. Crowberry Family. Fruit. — The black drupe is berrylike, globular, and incloses six to nine seedlike nutlets with a seed in each. The calyx is at the base and the stigma is at the apex. The drupes are solitary in the leaf axils. They are juicy, acid, edible, and serve as food for the Arctic birds."; "Now you see just how the stamen gets its lusty dust onto the stigma / And why this frenzied chlorophyllous orgy starts in spring is no enigma!"Synonyms: summit

5. (medicine) A visible sign or characteristic of a disease.

6. (zoology) Synonym of pterostigma.Synonyms: pterostigma