egregious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪˈɡridʒəs/ UK /ɪˈɡriːdʒəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
outstandingly bad; conspicuously and shockingly offensive

The report exposed an egregious abuse of public funds.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · outstandingly bad;... flagrant glaring blatant gross outrageous notorious shocking

Opposites

unremarkable admirable slight trivial

Word family

Forms egregiously

Derived forms egregiouslyegregiousness

Simplified etymology

Egregious entered English in the mid-16th century and ultimately derives from Latin grex, meaning ‘herd’ or ‘flock’. It originally meant ‘standing out from the herd’ and was complimentary.

Etymology

From Latin ēgregius ('distinguished, eminent', literally 'standing out from the flock'), from ex- ('out of') + grex (genitive gregis, 'flock, herd'); the originally laudatory sense degenerated in English to 'conspicuously bad'.

ēgregius Latin grex Latin *ger- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# egregious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪˈɡridʒəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪˈɡriːdʒəs/

## Meanings
1. outstandingly bad; conspicuously and shockingly offensive

## Examples
- The report exposed an egregious abuse of public funds.

## Synonyms
- flagrant
- glaring
- blatant
- gross
- outrageous
- notorious
- shocking

## Antonyms
- unremarkable
- admirable
- slight
- trivial

## Derived Forms
- egregiously
- egregiousness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ēgregius
- Root: grex
- Root: *ger-

## Etymology
From Latin ēgregius ('distinguished, eminent', literally 'standing out from the flock'), from ex- ('out of') + grex (genitive gregis, 'flock, herd'); the originally laudatory sense degenerated in English to 'conspicuously bad'.

## AI Etymology
Egregious comes from Latin ēgregius ('distinguished, eminent', literally 'standing out from the flock'), from ex- ('out of') + grex (genitive gregis, 'flock, herd'); the originally laudatory sense degenerated in English to 'conspicuously bad'. The etymological trail includes Latin ēgregius, Latin grex, and Proto-Indo-European *ger-. As an adjective, egregious describes what is outstandingly bad; conspicuously and shockingly offensive. The same family is visible in derived forms such as egregiously and egregiousness. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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