Flagitious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Flagitious \Fla*gi"tious\, a. [L. flagitiosus, fr. flagitium a
     shameful or disgraceful act, orig., a burning desire, heat of
     passion, from flagitare to demand hotly, fiercely; cf.
     flagrare to burn, E. flagrant.]
     1. Disgracefully or shamefully criminal; grossly wicked;
        scandalous; shameful; -- said of acts, crimes, etc.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Debauched principles and flagitious practices. --I.
                                                    Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Guilty of enormous crimes; corrupt; profligate; -- said of
        persons. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Characterized by scandalous crimes or vices; as,
        flagitious times. --Pope.
  
     Syn: Atrocious; villainous; flagrant; heinous; corrupt;
          profligate; abandoned. See {Atrocious}. --
          {Fla*gi"tious*ly}, adv. -- {Fla*gi"tious*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]
  
                A sentence so flagitiously unjust.  --Macaulay.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  flagitious
       adj : shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime";
             "a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous
             crime"; "no excess was too monstrous for them to
             commit" [syn: {atrocious}, {grievous}, {heinous}, {monstrous}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  19 Moby Thesaurus words for "flagitious":
     corrupt, criminal, degenerate, depraved, disgraceful, flagrant,
     glaring, gross, infamous, miscreant, nefarious, perverse, rotten,
     scandalous, shameful, sinful, vicious, villainous, wicked