egregious

(ĭ-grē'jəs, -jē-əs)
adj.
Conspicuously bad or offensive. See synonyms at flagrant.

[From Latin ēgregius, outstanding : ē-, ex-, ex- + grex, greg-, herd.]

egregiously e·gre'gious·ly adv.
egregiousness e·gre'gious·ness n.

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Of its two opposed meanings, 'remarkably good, distinguished' (as in Marlowe's egregious viceroys of these eastern parts in Tamburlaine) and 'remarkably bad', only the second is now in use, although it is also used to mean 'exceptional, unusual' more neutrally. The word comes from Latin grex meaning 'flock', and originally meant 'towering above the flock', i.e. 'prominent'. Modern examples: (with bad overtones)

It may well be the case that an egregious idiocy has formed the basis of a political tradition—Twentieth Century British History, 1991

I have waited a long time to catch The Economist out on an egregious factual error—Economist, 1993

While the most egregious excesses of the internet bubble were to be found in America, rather than here, it is certainly not safe to assume that our markets are immune from the same problems—Independent, 2005

(neutral) The inside is unified and austere, apart from an egregious baroque reredos, with a barrel vault, [etc.]—J. Sturrock, 1988

He was truly egregious but a kind man and a good skipper—Dictionary of National Biography, 1993.

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When you're president of the United States, you can't just sweep your errors under a rug. They're out there, they're conspicuous, and now they're being rated by scholars:

"From engaging in sexual relations with an intern to letting the Vietnam War escalate, U.S. presidents have been blamed for some egregious errors.
So who had the worst blunder? President Buchanan, for failing to avert the Civil War, according to a survey of presidential historians organized by the University of Louisville's McConnell Center."

Link: Survey reveals top 10 presidential blunders

Posted February 21, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

Conspicuously bad or offensive: arrant, capital, flagrant, glaring, gross, rank². See good/bad.

adj

Definition: outstandingly bad; outrageous
Antonyms: little, minor, secondary, slight

IN BRIEF: Standing out sharply as wrong or bad.

Myra's teacher was disappointed to find that her math paper was filled with egregious errors.

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For a list of words related to egregious, see:

• Vulgar, Rude, Degenerate, or Wild
• Bad, False, Evil, Insincere, or Dishonest

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See words rhyming with "egregious."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Egregious.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - elendig, exceptionelt dårlig, fortræffelig

Nederlands (Dutch)
opmerkelijk, gedistingeerd, kolossaal

Français (French)
adj. - énorme (péj, iro), fameux (iro), insigne (gaffe, folie)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - ungeheuerlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - έκδηλος, κατάφωρος

Italiano (Italian)
egregio

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - notório, flagrante, terrível

Русский (Russian)
вопиющий, отъявленный, непреодолимый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - extraordinario, tremendo, atroz, insigne

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - oerhörd, enorm

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
异乎寻常的, 惊人的, 过分的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 異乎尋常的, 驚人的, 過分的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 지독한, 얼토 당토 않은

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 実にひどい

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) فاضح, رديء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מחפיר, רע באופן בלתי-רגיל, מדהים, גס‬

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