egregious
adjective
Christopher Hitchens 
Did you know?
Some words originally used for animals that gather in flocks have been herded into use for people, too. The Latin word grex means “flock,” “herd,” or “group,” and is the root of several English words, including gregarious, which originally meant “tending to live in a flock, herd, or community rather than alone” but has become a synonym for “sociable,” and egregious. The Latin forebear of egregious, egregius, literally meant “out of the herd” but was used figuratively to mean “outstanding in one’s field.” Egregious entered English in the 16th century with that same, now-obsolete meaning, but over time gained a sense meaning “conspicuously bad” or “flagrant,” possibly as a result of ironic use of its original sense.
Examples of egregious in a Sentence
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
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
With his latest weigh-in blunder, there's no telling whether Dana White, who has publicly criticized Gastelum for his egregious weigh-in mishaps in the past, will cut the longtime vet.
—Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
Other adaptations have more egregious concerns.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
In contrast, the 1998 study that first purported to show that a vaccine caused autism was carried out in just 12 children and turned out to be a case of egregious fraud; the doctor had been paid to fabricate results to support lawsuits being brought against vaccine manufacturers.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for egregious
Cite this Entry
“Egregious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egregious. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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