Semifame

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Minor fame. informal, uncountable

    "He was most excited about the festival’s obscurities, like the series of Latin American and Spanish films, his latest passions, and the appearance by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, the Texas wild man whose brief moment of semifame, the 1968 single “Paralyzed,” inspired Mr. Bowie’s glam-era alter ego, Ziggy Stardust."

Example

More examples

"He was most excited about the festival’s obscurities, like the series of Latin American and Spanish films, his latest passions, and the appearance by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, the Texas wild man whose brief moment of semifame, the 1968 single “Paralyzed,” inspired Mr. Bowie’s glam-era alter ego, Ziggy Stardust."

Etymology

From semi- + fame.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.