Word of the Day

: November 10, 2014

egregious

adjective ih-GREE-juss

What It Means

: conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant

egregious in Context

It was an egregious breach of theater etiquette on Eugene's part when he left his cell phone on during the play and it rang during an important scene.

"Stanford still leads in the nation in scoring defense, but had perhaps the most egregious defensive breakdown of the weekend, failing to cover a Notre Dame receiver who scored the winning touchdown on a fourth-down pass with 1:01 left." - Jake Curtis, San Francisco Chronicle, October 5, 2014

Did You Know?

Egregious derives from the Latin word egregius, meaning "distinguished" or "eminent." In its earliest English uses, egregious was a compliment to someone who had a remarkably good quality that placed him or her eminently above others. That's how English philosopher and theorist Thomas Hobbes used it in flattering a colleague when he remarked, "I am not so egregious a mathematician as you are." Since Hobbes' day, however, the meaning of the word has become noticeably less complimentary, possibly as a result of ironic use of its original sense.