egregious

egre·gious

adjective \i-ˈgrē-jəs\

Definition of EGREGIOUS

1

archaic : distinguished

2

: conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant <egregious errors> <egregious padding of the evidence — Christopher Hitchens>

— egre·gious·ly adverb

— egre·gious·ness noun

Examples of EGREGIOUS

1. an egregious example of political bias
2. <the student's theme was marred by a number of egregious errors in spelling>
3. … the public perception is that too many corporate executives have committed egregious breaches of trust by cooking the books, shading the truth, and enriching themselves with huge stock-option profits while shareholders suffered breathtaking losses. —John A. Byrne et al., Business Week, 6 May 2002
4. History cannot be rewritten, but some of its more egregious errors can be corrected—at least in part, at least symbolically. … Or so assume a growing number of human-rights advocates. —Ellis Cose, Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2001

Origin of EGREGIOUS

Latin egregius, from e- + greg-, grex herd — more at gregarious

First Known Use: circa 1534

Related to EGREGIOUS

Synonyms

blatant, conspicuous, flagrant, glaring, gross, obvious, patent, pronounced, rank, striking

Related Words

arresting, clear, distinct, dramatic, emphatic, evident, eye-catching, marked, notable, noticeable, outstanding, plain, prominent, remarkable, salient, showy, splashy; absolute, arrant, downright, out-and-out, outright, sheer, stark, utter; detectable, discernible (also discernable), observable, perceptible, visible; abominable, atrocious, awful, deplorable, execrable, heinous, lousy, monstrous, outrageous, preposterous, shameful, shocking, terrible, wretched

Near Antonyms

imperceptible, inconspicuous, unnoticeable, unobtrusive; inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, slight, small, trifling, trivial; concealed, hidden, invisible