flagrant
Americanadjective
-
shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious; glaring.
a flagrant error.
-
notorious; scandalous.
a flagrant crime; a flagrant offender.
- Synonyms:
- egregious, monstrous, disgraceful
-
Archaic. blazing, burning, or glowing.
adjective
-
openly outrageous
-
obsolete burning or blazing
Synonym Usage
Flagrant, glaring, gross, outrageous, rank are adjectives suggesting extreme offensiveness. Flagrant, with a root sense of flaming or flaring, suggests evil or immorality so evident that it cannot be ignored or overlooked: a flagrant violation of the law. Glaring, meaning “shining brightly,” is similar to flagrant in emphasizing conspicuousness but usually lacks the imputation of immorality: a glaring error in computing the interest. Gross, which basically signifies excessive size, is even more negative in implication than the foregoing two terms, suggesting a mistake or impropriety of major proportions: a gross miscarriage of justice. Outrageous describes acts so far beyond the limits of decent behavior or accepted standards as to be totally insupportable: an outrageous abuse of the public trust. Rank, with its suggestion of bad odor, describes open offensiveness of the most objectionable kind, inviting total and unalloyed disapprobation: rank dishonesty, stinking to high heaven; Only rank stupidity would countenance such a step.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flagrant
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin flagrant- (stem of flagrāns ), present participle of flagrāre “to burn”; see -ant
Explanation
Something flagrant is bad — so bad you can't ignore it. A flagrant foul in sports might send you to the bench, and a flagrant violation of the law might send you to the slammer. The current meaning of the adjective flagrant — "obviously offensive or disgraceful" — is thought to derive from the Latin legal term in flagrante delicto, which literally meant "with fire still blazing" and is used figuratively to describe a situation in which the criminal is caught red handed. Aside from a flagrant abuse of the law, the word can also be used to describe anything that is obviously bad — like flagrant bad taste or flagrant abuse of the rules of grammar.
Vocabulary lists containing flagrant
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Grade 11, List 1
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The Scarlet Letter
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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.
The attack "constitutes a flagrant violation of maritime law and, more broadly, of the rules of navigation," Radev said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was "deeply disappointed" by the Clippers' "flagrant violations" of the rules and said he believed the "severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations".
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
“I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Fans of the opposing Golden State Valkyries cheered Carrington’s return to Chase Center after the outrage over her Aug. 8 flagrant foul against Cunningham.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Is it the part of the police department to harass me when this city is a flagrant vice capital of the civilized world?”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
