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