egregious
adjective
Meredith Blake Christopher Hitchens 
Did you know?
Some words originally used for animals that gather in flocks have been herded into use for people, too. The Latin word grex means “flock,” “herd,” or “group,” and is the root of several English words, including gregarious, which originally meant “tending to live in a flock, herd, or community rather than alone” but has become a synonym for “sociable,” and egregious. The Latin forebear of egregious, egregius, literally meant “out of the herd” but was used figuratively to mean “outstanding in one’s field.” Egregious entered English in the 16th century with that same, now-obsolete meaning, but over time gained a sense meaning “conspicuously bad” or “flagrant,” possibly as a result of ironic use of its original sense.
Examples of egregious in a Sentence
John A. Byrne et al., Business Week, 6 May 2002
History cannot be rewritten, but some of its more egregious errors can be corrected—at least in part, at least symbolically. … Or so assume a growing number of human-rights advocates.
—Ellis Cose, Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2001
an egregious example of political bias
the student's theme was marred by a number of egregious errors in spelling
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
His outrageous attacks on the citizens of Minnesota are as egregious as anything the British Redcoats did to provoke American colonists into revolution, that started with the Battle of Lexington (painting).
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 20 Feb. 2026
Yet the Mayor’s task seemed primarily to be a matter of remaining extremely visible and communicative, while committing no egregious public blunders, as members of the municipal workforce did their jobs.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2026
And there’s far more egregious behavior by other men alleged in the files (Bill Gates comes to mind).
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for egregious
Cite this Entry
“Egregious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/egregious. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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egregious
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