Egregious and flagrant

Question

Can someone please explain their differences to me?And can I use them to describe people? Like:"Don't be so egregious/flagrant."

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

You use them to describe actions, not people.

Egregious is worse than flagrant, in my opinion.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Can someone please explain their differences to me?

egregious The basic meaning is to describe something that stands out from the flock/from the crowd.

eg in a group of 100 brown cows, a single white cow is egregious.

But the word is usually used figuratively, and more often negatively. eg For a criminal whose crimes are much, much worse than other crimes, we say that his crimes are 'egregious'.

eg If someone makes a very, very serious error, we commonly speak of 'an egregious error'.

We don't normally say this of people, although I suppose you could in a suitable context. But you certainly wouldn't just walk into a room and say 'Tom is egregious', without any explanation.

flagrant This is derived from the Latin verb 'flagrare', meaning 'to blaze'. It means glaring, scandalous, shocking. You can say it about things that people do, or about people.

eg a flagrant offence, a flagrant offender.

It has the idea that the person who flagrantly breaks the rules does not even care that they are shocking everybody.

Best wishes, Clive

Marius Hancu · Answer

Egregious can be used for people in some situations. See definition 2 enclosed.

Flagrant is just one of the meanings of egregious.
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egre·gious

1 archaic : remarkable for good quality : DISTINGUISHED, STRIKING

2 : conspicuous for bad quality or taste : NOTORIOUS<the egregious epicure who condescended to take only one bite out of the sunny side of a peach -- J.G.Lockhart> <a bilious combination of brummagem melodrama and synthetic seascapes ... the picture is egregious -- John McCarten>

3 a : EXTRAORDINARY, EXTREME<a published story which seemed too egregious to be believed -- Economist> b : FLAGRANT<egregious errors> <some Germans, conditioned by experience to egregious behavior on the part of their rulers -- E.J.Kahn>

4 : ASOCIAL<it is rather a gregarious instinct to keep together by minding each other's business ... we must be preserved from becoming egregious -- Robert Frost>

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Mcaleck · Answer

fla•grant /fle

r

nt/ adj. (of an action) shocking because it is done in a very obvious way and shows no respect for people, laws, etc.

blatant: a flagrant abuse of human rights

a flagrant breach of copyright

He showed a flagrant disregard for anyone else’s feelings.

egre•gious /

ri

d

i

s/ adj. (formal) extremely bad: egregious behaviour

an egregious error

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary©Oxford University Press, 2005

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Egregious and flagrant

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