flagrante delicto

[ fluh-gran-tee di-lik-toh ]

adverb
  1. Law. in the very act of committing the offense.

  2. while having illicit sex with someone.

Origin of flagrante delicto

1
From Latin: literally, “while the offense is (still) burning”
  • Also in flagrante delicto, in flagrante .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use flagrante delicto in a sentence

  • He has a BA in home invasion from Columbia University and an MA in flagrante delicto from the Institute of Fine Arts.

  • Only one vessel had been captured in flagrante delicto after a sharp fight, and had been condemned as a lawful prize.

    Sketches From My Life | Hobart Pasha
  • It made it a cinch to gather in known criminals in the very midst of their first subsequent flagrante delicto.

    Zero Data | Charles Saphro
  • When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him later.

    A Labrador Doctor | Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
  • But the door quickly gave way before our overtures, and we caught the magistrate flagrante delicto.

    A Labrador Doctor | Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

British Dictionary definitions for flagrante delicto

flagrante delicto

/ (fləˈɡræntɪ dɪˈlɪktəʊ) /


Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012