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flagitious - 4 dictionary results

fla⋅gi⋅tious

  [fluh-jish-uhs]
Use flagitious in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To flagitious
fla·gi·tious   (flə-jĭsh'əs)   
adj.  
  1. Characterized by extremely brutal or cruel crimes; vicious.
  2. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Flagitious

Fla*gi"tious\, a. [L. flagitiosus, fr. flagitium a shameful or disgraceful act, orig., a burning desire, heat of passion, from flagitare to demand hotly, fiercely; cf. flagrare to burn, E. flagrant.]

1. Disgracefully or shamefully criminal; grossly wicked; scandalous; shameful; -- said of acts, crimes, etc.

Debauched principles and flagitious practices. --I. Taylor.

2. Guilty of enormous crimes; corrupt; profligate; -- said of persons. --Pope.

3. Characterized by scandalous crimes or vices; as, flagitious times. --Pope.

Syn: Atrocious; villainous; flagrant; heinous; corrupt; profligate; abandoned. See Atrocious. -- Fla*gi"tious*ly, adv. -- Fla*gi"tious*ness, n.

A sentence so flagitiously unjust. --Macaulay.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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flagitious 
"shamefully wicked, vile, scandalous," 1382, from O.Fr. flagicieux, from L. flagitiosus, from flagitium "shameful crime," related to flagrum (see flagrant).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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