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flagrant

 - 3 dictionary results

fla⋅grant

  [fley-gruhnt]
Use flagrant in a Sentence
–adjective
1. shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious; glaring: a flagrant error.
2. notorious; scandalous: a flagrant crime; a flagrant offender.
3. Archaic. blazing, burning, or glowing.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < L flagrant- (s. of flagrāns), prp. of flagrāre to burn; see -ant

Related forms:
fla⋅gran⋅cy, flagrance, fla⋅grant⋅ness, noun
fla⋅grant⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
2. disgraceful, monstrous, egregious. Flagrant, glaring, gross, outrageous, rank are adjectives suggesting extreme offensiveness. Flagrant, with a root sense of flaming or flaring, suggests evil or immorality so evident that it cannot be ignored or overlooked: a flagrant violation of the law. Glaring, meaning “shining brightly,” is similar to flagrant in emphasizing conspicuousness but usually lacks the imputation of immorality: a glaring error in computing the interest. Gross, which basically signifies excessive size, is even more negative in implication than the foregoing two terms, suggesting a mistake or impropriety of major proportions: a gross miscarriage of justice. Outrageous describes acts so far beyond the limits of decent behavior or accepted standards as to be totally insupportable: an outrageous abuse of the public trust. Rank, with its suggestion of bad odor, describes open offensiveness of the most objectionable kind, inviting total and unalloyed disapprobation: rank dishonesty, stinking to high heaven; Only rank stupidity would countenance such a step.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To flagrant
fla·grant   (flā'grənt)   
adj.  

  1. Conspicuously bad, offensive, or reprehensible: a flagrant miscarriage of justice; flagrant cases of wrongdoing at the highest levels of government. See Usage Note at blatant.

  2. Obsolete Flaming; blazing.


[Latin flagrāns, flagrant-, present participle of flagrāre, to burn; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
fla'gran·cy, fla'grance n., fla'grant·ly adv.
Synonyms: These adjectives refer to what is conspicuously bad or offensive. Flagrant applies to what is so offensive that it cannot escape notice: flagrant disregard for the law.
What is glaring is blatantly and painfully manifest: a glaring error; glaring contradictions.
Gross suggests a magnitude of offense or failing that cannot be condoned or forgiven: gross ineptitude; gross injustice.
What is egregious is outrageously bad: an egregious lie.
Rank implies that the term it qualifies is as indicated to an extreme, violent, or gross degree: rank stupidity; rank treachery.
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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Word Origin & History

flagrant 
c.1500, "resplendent," from L. flagrantem (nom. flagrans) "burning," prp. of flagrare "to burn," from L. root *flag-, corresponding to PIE *bhleg- (cf. Gk. phlegein "to burn, scorch," O.E. blæc "black"). Sense of "glaringly offensive" first recorded 1706, probably from common legalese phrase in flagrante delicto "red-handed," lit. "with the crime still blazing."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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