1. The shame or disgrace attached to something regarded as socially unacceptable: When a person receives welfare, sometimes it is attached with a social stigma as being not good enough to be associated with by other people.
2. A mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach; such as, on one's reputation: Harry's character carried the stigma of having been an alcoholic even after he quit drinking and never touched it again.
3. In medicine, a mark on the skin indicating a medical condition; for example, a mark or characteristic indicative of a history of a disease or abnormality: June had stigmas or lesions on her arms showing that she had had severe illnesses when she was a child.
4. In psychology, a mark, or spot, on the skin that bleeds as a symptom of hysteria: In the book that Rebecca was reading, the sister of the main character had a stigma on her right hand that would open with blood gushing out when she was in a delirium.
5. In zoology, a colored mark or spot found on some protozoans and invertebrates: In Jane’s biology class she learned that butterflies, and other lepidopterans, had something like a speck which resembled an eye and was called a stigma.
6. Etymology: a mark burned into the skin of a slave; a brand that identifies ownership. It was also used to identify a criminal.

The Greek element stigma denoted a "mark made on the skin with a sharp implement"; hence, a "tattoo" or a "scar".

By the time the term stigma arrived in English, via Latin, it had acquired the connotation of a "brand of shame"; and it was also used specifically to indicate the specific injuries made on Christ's hands and feet by the nails of the cross.

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