flagrant

American  

[fley-gruhnt] / ˈfleɪ grənt /

adjective

1. shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious; glaring.

   a flagrant error.

2. notorious; scandalous.

   a flagrant crime; a flagrant offender.

   Synonyms:

   egregious, monstrous, disgraceful

3. Archaic. blazing, burning, or glowing.

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flagrant British  

/ ˈfleɪɡrənt /

adjective

1. openly outrageous

2. obsolete burning or blazing

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Related Words

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

• flagrance noun
• flagrancy noun
• flagrantly adverb
• flagrantness noun
• nonflagrance noun
• nonflagrancy noun
• nonflagrant adjective
• nonflagrantly adverb
• unflagrant adjective
• unflagrantly adverb

Etymology

Origin of flagrant

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin flagrant- (stem of flagrāns ), present participle of flagrāre “to burn”; -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.

Example Sentences

Yet such flagrant signs of fraud didn’t raise alarms with state officials, who are in charge of regulating hospices.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026

Both were assessed technical fouls with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter, and Williams’ hit was reviewed for a possible flagrant, although it was not upgraded.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2026

Gobert had said after the game that he hoped the NBA would overturn the flagrant call on what he called "just an accident".

From Barron's • Feb. 21, 2026

In one, a senior figure expresses directly to Russian delegates "serious concerns" about the country's "wilful misuse" of Interpol systems, stating that there were instances of "flagrant violations" of Interpol rules.

From BBC • Jan. 25, 2026

He said he was American and so reserved the right to flagrant displays of technology.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Related Words

• atrocious
• bold
• brazen
• conspicuous
• disgraceful
• egregious
• glaring
• heinous
• notorious
• obvious
• outrageous
• shameful
• shameless
• shocking
• undisguised