egregious

adjective egre·gious \ i-ˈgrē-jəs \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

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

The most egregious example of replay overreach came during last year's NLDS, when Jose Lobaton's foot may have momentarily skipped off the first-base bag in the eighth inning of a one-run game.

— si.com staff, SI.com, "Nine Innings: Blowing Up Small Sample Sizes, Heroic Homer Feats and Establishing an All-MLB Team," 2 Apr. 2018
Windows 10 fixed Windows 8’s most egregious sins (kind-of), while SteamOS lacked vital capabilities at launch.

— brad chacos, PCWorld, "Steam Machines disappear from Steam's hardware tab, but their legacy lives on," 2 Apr. 2018
Other states have had egregious examples of children being shamed for lunch debt.

— wilborn p. nobles iii, NOLA.com, "Miami mulls school-based apartments for struggling teachers: report," 30 Mar. 2018
If the violation was truly egregious, Zuckerberg would just apologize, usually via a Facebook post, and announce a fix.

— jessi hempel, WIRED, "A Short History of Facebook's Privacy Gaffes," 30 Mar. 2018
So, unlike the more egregious and high-profile cases of service time dictating where a player starts the season — as in Bryant’s case — there is and will be a baseball decision with long-term implications for the club.

— jon meoli, baltimoresun.com, "Orioles face decisions on top prospects Sisco, Hays, Harvey, with club control a factor," 22 Mar. 2018
Ulyana’s response, which was significantly more egregious than Miroslava's, comes off as both dismissive and self-victimizing.

— amira rasool, Teen Vogue, "Ulyana Sergeenko and Miroslava Duma's Apologies for Saying the N-Word Add Insult to Injury," 24 Jan. 2018
If anything, the violation of the First Amendment in the NIFLA case is more egregious, and the implications potentially more far-reaching.

— david french, National Review, "The Dangerous Supreme Court Case Nobody Is Talking About," 16 Jan. 2018
As a result of its egregious blunder, Snap’s market value has dropped a tad bit — by $800 million, to be exact.

— amanda arnold, The Cut, "Snapchat’s Offensive Rihanna Ad Cost the App $800 Million," 17 Mar. 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.