Meaning of scarlet letter | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The letter "A" in scarlet cloth required to be worn by those convicted of adultery in 17th-century Puritan New England.
   historical
2. A highly visible stigma.
   broadly, figuratively

Examples

“The Scarlet Letter [title]”

“In the early seventeenth century, all the colonies of New England enacted harsh laws against unchastity: banishment, imprisonment, severe public flogging, the wearing of scarlet letters and other shaming garments for the rest⟳ of one's life.”

“The scarlet letters that current discourse has slapped upon people deemed “problematic,” deemed “unreachable” for feminism, have⟳ created consternation […]”

CEFR level