flagitious
Americanadjective
-
shamefully wicked, as persons, actions, or times.
-
heinous or flagrant, as a crime; infamous.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flagitious
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English flagicious, from Latin flāgitiōsus, equivalent to flāgiti(um) “shame, scandal” + -ōsus -ous
Explanation
Flagitious is a fancy and forceful word for "wicked and nasty." As sheriff, it's up to you to bring the flagitious outlaws to justice. Remember that flagitious has three syllables and the "t" is pronounced like "sh" (similar to "ambitious"). Use flagitious when you want to emphasize the extremely brutal nature of a crime or other bad action. The crime scene photos showed the results of actions so flagitious you could not bear to look at them.
Vocabulary lists containing flagitious
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To applaud the sadists, voyeurs and media manipulators masquerading as directors, actors and writers is as misguided as were the lives of that flagitious couple.
From Time Magazine Archive
That this family, with their illustrious father, should have escaped altogether, is an instance of good fortune as remarkable as the attempt was flagitious.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851 by Various
Swear that you will never, on any condition, for any boon, aid him in his flagitious enterprise; that you will thwart, and resist, and combat it to the utmost.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 383, September 1847 by Various
The culprit was convicted upon various satisfactory testimony; but the incident betokens a state of security, at that period, and a rarity of flagitious offences, which puts to shame the demoralization of our own day.
From Old New England Traits by George Lunt
The proceedings of the Council of Blood on this occasion were marked by a more flagitious contempt of justice, if possible, than its proceedings usually were.
From History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, Vols. 1 and 2 by William Hickling Prescott
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
