egregious
/ɪˈɡɹiː.d͡ʒəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.10 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Conspicuous, exceptional, outstanding; usually in a negative sense.
adj
Example Sentences
- "The student has made egregious errors on the examination."
- "16th century, Christopher Marlowe, Ignoto, I cannot cross my arms, or sigh "Ah me," / "Ah me forlorn!" egregious foppery! / I cannot buss thy fill, play with thy hair, / Swearing by Jove, "Thou art most debonnaire!""
- "My lord, you give me most egregious indignity."
- "Good Heaven! when we observe what egregious nonsense other people talk, what woful follies other people commit, sure we must be tempted to turn upon ourselves and ask—"What do I do that is equally silly?""
- "22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/ When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material—as if a movie were a marriage, and a rights contract the vow—the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without losing anything egregious."
- "She's sitting opposite a window that's gently breezing into her face, wafting her hair into cover-girl perfection ... It's a little moment that seems to encapsulate her appeal: ... her gorgeousness being so egregious that even breezes oblige with their tousle-fanning effects ..."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Latin grex Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin ēgregiusbor. English egregious From Latin ēgregius, from e- (“out of”), + grex (“flock”), + English adjective suffix -ous, from Latin suffix -osus (“full of”); reflecting the positive connotations of "standing out from the flock".
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Inflected Forms
more egregious (comparative)
most egregious (superlative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
egregia cum laude
Frequently Paired Words
egregia cum laude