These words refer to people or things that are widely known. Famous is the most general of these, the least formal, and the weakest in connotations. It refers simply to anything that has gained the attention of many people for whatever reason: a famous film star; a country famous for its good cooking. While the word does carry a positive connotation, it may suggest popularity or general recognition rather than discriminating approval or inherent excellence: a meeting between the famous popularizer and the less well known originator of the theory.

Celebrated and renowned are intensifications of famous , both specifically adding the note of wide approval for accomplishment. Renowned is the more formal of the two and might seem too precious in some uses; its emphasis is also on the wideness of the acclaim rather than on discrimination. It is most viable now, perhaps, for places or things rather than for people: a world-renowned castle on the Rhine. It may also suggest something that has become legendary or is no longer available for an objective evaluation and must be approached through admiring but second-hand reports: the renowned band of Spartans who held Thermopylae. Celebrated refers, more objectively, to someone or something that has been given acclaim or honoured with awards or prizes: a celebrated Nobel Prize winner. It can, sometimes, function like famous in indicating a more popular or less critical approval: the most celebrated of the famous film stars. Sometimes the word can be a less formal substitute for renowned : a cathedral celebrated in song and story.

Noted is unique among these words in specifically suggesting that accomplishment is singled out for notice because of its excellence. It is often used to describe a more intellectual kind of effort, indicating an authority or expert or their theories: a noted authority on bee-keeping; a noted critic of new fiction. Because of this use, noted points to a much more limited general recognition than those other words; a noted expert, while honoured by others in his field, might not be known widely to the general public at all. Notorious , in sharp contrast to all these words, indicates someone or something that has become famous because of its undesirable or offensive behaviour: the notorious immorality of Hollywood in its hey-day; a notorious criminal.