Even when no stigma attaches to the drugs involved, most clinical trials end in failure.

ECONOMIST: LSD

But the Fed seemed to be signaling Friday that there is no stigma.

FORBES: The Fed Primes The Pump

It's not easy but there should be no stigma to owing money and it is really important that you are up front and honest.

BBC: Pile of coins

This may be a macho country but in Cuba ballet has such a high profile that there is no stigma attached to boys who want to become dancers.

BBC: Passion fuelling Cuban ballet boom

To put it another way, the Bank is saying that in a business-as-usual way, with no stigma attached and at a cheaper interest rate, it will provide the funds that till now it would only provide through its so-called discount window - which is where banks go to borrow in an embarrassing emergency.

BBC: Will Bank of England��s new lending schemes work?

And yet, until what my friend Karen McGrane refers to as bionic hearing is no longer stigma-free, people will go on nodding blankly to vowel sounds they cannot distinguish.

FORBES: Google Glass V2 Could Be Binocular, And Even Double As Stealth Hearing Aids

Ida Magli, an anthropologist, has come up with another reason: childlessness no longer bears a stigma, and the social pressure to marry and have children is much weaker.

ECONOMIST: Why Italians don��t make babies

No one puts that stigma on anyone in rock music.

BBC: Sound of 2013: Angel Haze

That stigma is perhaps no greater than in New York City, where high-rises and apartments are hardly hospitable to pigs.

WSJ: New Yorkers boldly flout law to keep pigs

One by-product of this PR nightmare was that board members wanted no part in the business airplane stigma.

FORBES: CEO Perk? What Happened To The "Lifetime Use Of The Company Jet?"

The stigma of having a resume posted online no longer exists because LinkedIn has broken down that barrier.

FORBES: You Are Interviewing For Your Next Job -- Now