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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.

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 on the Web The criticism of Governor Abbott’s decision was particularly egregious because, in many cases, those offering it have handled the pandemic with worse results. — Drew Holden, National Review, 9 Apr. 2021 The guidelines state that if channel owners are accused of very egregious crimes, the platform can terminate their channels if the content is closely related to the crimes and the channel owners were convicted or pleaded guilty. — NBC News, 28 Sep. 2021 Perhaps most egregious was in Broward County where 14 seniors died in one nursing home due to overheating when air conditioners failed as power faltered. — Joe Mario Pedersen, orlandosentinel.com, 24 Aug. 2021 The most egregious came with an opportunity for Wisdom to tack on to the Cubs’ two-run lead June 2 against the San Diego Padres. — Meghan Montemurro, chicagotribune.com, 19 July 2021 This has had a profound impact on some of our most dedicated citizens, AAPIs in the military community: there has been an increase in egregious hate crimes against military members and veterans. — Ravi Chaudhary, CNN, 27 May 2021 With a limited budget and personal, in-state federal law enforcement are limited to the most egregious crimes. — Edmund H. Mahony, courant.com, 17 May 2021 Syrian troops still occupied Lebanon at the time of the killing and were guilty of egregious abuses. — Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2021 Indianapolis' pass protection gaffes were perhaps the most egregious. — Brian Haenchen, The Indianapolis Star, 19 Sep. 2021

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.