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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

fla·gi·tious

Audio Help [fluh-jish-uh

s] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	shamefully wicked, as persons, actions, or times.

2.	heinous or flagrant, as a crime; infamous.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME flagicious < L flāgitiōsus, equiv. to flāgiti(um) shame, scandal + -ōsus -ous

]

—Related forms

fla·gi·tious·ly, adverb

fla·gi·tious·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Flagitious

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fla·gi·tious Audio Help (flə-jĭsh'əs) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Characterized by extremely brutal or cruel crimes; vicious.
Infamous; scandalous: "That remorseless government persisted in its flagitious project" (Robert Southey).

[Middle English flagicious, wicked, from Latin flāgitiōsus, from flāgitium, shameful act, protest, from flāgitāre, to importune, to demand vehemently.]

fla·gi'tious·ly adv., fla·gi'tious·ness n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
flagitious

"shamefully wicked, vile, scandalous," 1382, from O.Fr. flagicieux, from L. flagitiosus, from flagitium "shameful crime," related to flagrum (see flagrant).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

flagitious
adjective
1.	extremely wicked, deeply criminal; "a flagitious crime"; "heinous accusations"
2.	shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime"; "a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous crime"; "no excess was too monstrous for them to commit" [syn: atrocious]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flagitious

A*tro"cious\, a. [L. atrox, atrocis, cruel, fierce: cf. F. atroce.]

1. Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness; as, atrocious quilt or deeds.

2. Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity.

Revelations . . . so atrocious that nothing in history approaches them. --De Quincey.

3. Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious distempers. [Obs.] --Cheyne.

Syn: Atrocious, Flagitious, Flagrant.

Usage: Flagitious points to an act as grossly wicked and vile; as, a flagitious proposal. Flagrant marks the vivid impression made upon the mind by something strikingly wrong or erroneous; as, a flagrant misrepresentation; a flagrant violation of duty. Atrocious represents the act as springing from a violent and savage spirit. If Lord Chatham, instead of saying "the atrocious crime of being a young man," had used either of the other two words, his irony would have lost all its point, in his celebrated reply to Sir Robert Walpole, as reported by Dr. Johnson. -- A*tro"cious*ly, adv. -- A*tro"cious*ness, n.

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flagitious

flagitious was Word of the Day on August 27, 2002.

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