flagrante delicto

[ fluh-gran-tee di-lik-toh ]

/ fləˈgræn ti dɪˈlɪk toʊ /

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adverb

Law. in the very act of committing the offense.

while having illicit sex with someone.

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Also in flagrante delicto, in flagrante .

Origin of flagrante delicto

From Latin: literally, “while the offense is (still) burning”

Words nearby flagrante delicto

flagon, flag out, flagpole, flag rank, flagrant, flagrante delicto, flags, flag seat, flagship, flag smut, Flagstad

How to use flagrante delicto in a sentence

A small child catches her mother in flagrante with “Santa” and is wracked with guilt about her cuckolded father.
How Santa Hurts Christmas|Candida Moss|December 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He has a BA in home invasion from Columbia University and an MA in flagrante delicto from the Institute of Fine Arts.
Obama's Building Boom: Will His Architecture Legacy Be as Lasting as FDR's?|Ian Volner|January 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The apprehension that I might be come upon flagrante delictu gave me a shiver of apprehension.
Tramping on Life|Harry Kemp
Only one vessel had been captured in flagrante delicto after a sharp fight, and had been condemned as a lawful prize.
Sketches From My Life|Hobart Pasha

It made it a cinch to gather in known criminals in the very midst of their first subsequent flagrante delicto.
Zero Data|Charles Saphro
When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him later.
A Labrador Doctor|Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
But the door quickly gave way before our overtures, and we caught the magistrate flagrante delicto.
A Labrador Doctor|Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

British Dictionary definitions for flagrante delicto

flagrante delicto

/ (fləˈɡræntɪ dɪˈlɪktəʊ) /

adverb

See in flagrante delicto

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012