flagitious
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Old French flagitieux or Latin flāgitiōsus, both ultimately from flāgitium (“shameful crime”), related to flagrum (“whip”).[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
flagitious (comparative more flagitious, superlative most flagitious)
- (literary) 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 […] .
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 258:
- The duke found his soldiery half disciplined, flagitious, disorderly and inefficient: he rendered them, in his own words, a "perfect organ."
- 1716 Nov 7th, quoted from 1742, probably Alexander Pope, God's Revenge Against Punning, from Miscellanies, 3rd volume, page 227:
- (literary) Extremely brutal or wicked; heinous, monstrous.
- Synonyms: infamous, scandalous, nefarious, iniquitous
- 1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 30:
- But if in Noble Minds ſome Dregs remain, / Not yet purg'd off, of Spleen and ſow'r Diſdain, / Diſcharge that Rage on more Provoking Crimes, / Nor fear a Dearth on theſe Flagitious Times.
- 1959, Rex Stout, “Assault on a Brownstone”, in Death Times Three, published 1985, page 186:
- As he entered he boomed: "Monstrous! Flagitious!"
Translations[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “flagitious”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.