mark of Cain
1
9.9
- noun
- /mɑrk əv keɪn/
- Literature
:
marca de Caín
- To be able to choose—to inherit a culture that breeds autonomy as the greatest good—may be, in certain circumstances, a calamity and a curse, like the mark of Cain.
And remember, he has this mark of the wanderer, mark of Cain.
- And remember, he has this mark of the wanderer, mark of Cain.
Examples
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In her community, he was seen as having received the mark of Cain for his past mistakes.
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Because not only is he the daylighter, but he also has the mark of Cain on him.
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He has the mark, the mark of Cain.
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Mrs. Rosemont, you told Cammie that Johnny had the mark of Cain.
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Do you think we've been singled out... chosen for some extraordinary moment in life... or are we all cursed with the mark of Cain?
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I leaned against the doorjamb, making excuses to myself, but imagined an indelible mark of Cain on my forehead.
Fiction book (1991) -
He felt as though he bore the mark of Cain after being shunned by his friends.
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She believed that the mark of Cain would forever label her as an outcast.
Synonyms
69
3.0
A pattern or sign on something that helps you tell it apart
7
5.8
A thing that makes people think less of someone
5
8.8
A public mark that shows a person is shamed for a bad action
4
9.4
A mark that shows in public that someone is guilty and causes shame
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'mark' literally means a sign, the full sense 'a stigma or sign of guilt/outcast' depends on knowledge of the Biblical story of Cain; the meaning cannot be derived from the constituent words alone without that cultural background. A B1 learner who merely knows 'mark' and the name 'Cain' (as a name) would not reliably infer the idiomatic stigma sense, so this expression is culturally specific and opaque.
Etymology
Mark of Cain comes from a Bible story: after Cain killed his brother Abel, God put a mark on Cain to show he was 'guilty' and to make him an 'outcast'. So today the phrase means someone who is seen as 'guilty', 'shamed', or an 'outcast'.