flagrant

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 27, 2011 is: flagrant • \FLAY-grunt\  • adjective : conspicuously offensive; especially : so obviously inconsistent with what is right or proper as to appear to be a flouting of law or morality Examples: The United Nations is investigating what seem to be flagrant violations of human rights by the junta. "Wade missed the South Carolina game because of … a flagrant personal foul at Vanderbilt." -- From an article by Bob Holt and Tom Murphy in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 20, 2011 Did you know? In Latin, "flagrare" means "to burn," and "flagrans" means "burning" or "fiery hot" (both literally and figuratively). When it was first used in the 16th century, "flagrant" had the same meaning as "flagrans," but by the 18th century it had acquired its current meaning of "conspicuously bad." Some usage commentators warn against using "flagrant" and "blatant" interchangeably. While both words denote conspicuousness, they are not exact synonyms. "Blatant" is usually used of some person, action, or thing that attracts disapproving attention (e.g., "a blatant grammatical error"). "Flagrant" is used similarly, but usually carries a heavier weight of violated morality (e.g., "flagrant abuse of public office"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.