egregious

adjective egre·gious \ i-ˈgrē-jəs \

|Updated on: 13 Aug 2018

Examples: egregious in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of egregious

1 : conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant

egregious errors

egregious padding of the evidence
—Christopher Hitchens

2 archaic : distinguished

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egregiously

adverb

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egregiousness

noun

See egregious defined for English-language learners

See egregious defined for kids

egregious was our Word of the Day on 11/10/2014. Hear the podcast!

Examples of egregious in a Sentence

… 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
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
an egregious example of political bias
the student's theme was marred by a number of egregious errors in spelling

Recent Examples of egregious from the Web

But even among this throng of flashy ailments, Detroit’s car-insurance problem looks egregious.

— The Economist, "Why Detroit is the most expensive city in America to buy car insurance," 5 July 2018
The site can think about what the role of a dictionary is within a more active Internet (like correcting egregious and highly public misuses of language, perhaps?).

— nathan mattise, Ars Technica, "By defining “l33t” and “Thanks Obama,” Dictionary.com became the Web’s reference," 1 July 2018
Here’s a trailer: What are some of the most egregious things in it? Hoo boy.

— anna silman, The Cut, "The Pro-Life ‘Roe v. Wade’ Movie Sounds Like a Total Disaster," 13 July 2018
Russia was cast out of what was then the G-8 in punishment for an egregious violation of international law, that is the seizure of Crimea in 2014.

— Fox News, "Trump attends G7 summit amid backlash over tariffs," 9 June 2018
Activists pointed to numerous other cases in which minorities faced much harsher sentences for less egregious crimes.

— paul elias, BostonGlobe.com, "Judge who sentenced Brock Turner recalled amid #MeToo movement," 6 June 2018
This was an especially egregious violation after the 2015 death of 25-year old Freddie Gray while in police custody.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "How Baltimore Police Abused Their Power," 9 Apr. 2018
Despite her admittance of fault, many, including Selma director Ava DuVernay find her compliance with the heinous crime too egregious to forgive.

— jasmine hardy, Essence.com, "New Intel Prompts U.S. Government To Reopen Emmett Till Investigation," 12 July 2018
Many already do, and that’s prompted Microsoft and others to act to curtail the most egregious forms of bloat, but the battle is far from won.

— vlad savov, The Verge, "Isn’t it time we declared our independence from bloatware?," 4 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'egregious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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.