flagitious

English

Etymology

Old French flagitieux or Latin flāgitiōsus, both ultimately from flāgitium (shameful crime).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /fləˈdʒɪʃəs/

Adjective

flagitious (comparative more flagitious, superlative most flagitious)

  1. (literary) (of people) Guilty of terrible crimes; wicked, criminal.
    • 1716 Nov 7th, quoted from 1742, probably Alexander Pope, God's Revenge Against Punning, from Miscellanies, 3rd volume, page 227:
      This young Nobleman was not only a flagitious Punster himself, but was accessary to the Punning of others, by Consent, by Provocation, by Connivance, and by Defence of the Evil committed […].
  2. (literary) Extremely brutal or wicked; heinous, monstrous.
    • 1959 (1985), Rex Stout, "Assault on a Brownstone", Death Times Three, page 186:
      As he entered he boomed: "Monstrous! Flagitious!"

Synonyms

See also

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