flagitious [fləˈdʒɪʃəs] a.
1.) Disgracefully or shamefully criminal; grossly wicked; scandalous; shameful—said of acts, crimes, etc.
2.) Guilty of enormous crimes; corrupt; profligate—said of persons.
3.) Characterized by scandalous crimes or vices; as, "flagitious times" (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).
Etymology: Middle English flagicious, wicked, from Latin flagitiosus, from flagitium, shameful act, protest, from flagitare, to importune, to demand vehemently.
"Of all the disreputable and flagitious acts of which he was guilty in this visit, one that particularly hurt the feelings of the Athenians was that, having given command that they should forthwith raise for his service two hundred and fifty talents, and they to comply with his demands being forced to levy it upon the people with the utmost rigour and severity, when they presented him with the money which they had with such difficulty raised, as if it were a trifling sum, he ordered it to be given to Lamia and the rest of his women, to buy soap" (Plutarch's Lives Translated From the Greek by Several Hands, John Dryden (trans.), 1683).
3 comments:
I thought maybe it had something to do with flagellation. Fifty Shades of Flagitious, anyone?
I'm glad it doesn't mean the act of being a flag. That would've amused me at first, but bothered me later.
Thanks, this is a great word. For some reason my mouth isn't able to perform the same sounds... flaschitzious...that's what I am saying!
But it goes nicely with the word I learned recently - prig.
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