Flagitious

//fləˈdʒɪʃəs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Guilty of terrible crimes; wicked, criminal. literary

    "This young Nobleman was not only a flagitious Punster himself, but was accessary to the Punning of others, by Consent, by Provocation, by Connivance, and by Defence of the Evil committed […] ."

  2. 2
    Extremely brutal or wicked; heinous, monstrous. literary

    "But if in Noble Minds ſome Dregs remain, / Not yet purg'd off, of Spleen and ſow'r Diſdain, / Diſcharge that Rage on more Provoking Crimes, / Nor fear a Dearth on theſe Flagitious Times."

Adjective
  1. 1
    shockingly brutal or cruel wordnet
  2. 2
    extremely wicked, deeply criminal wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
infamousabandonedabominablearrantarrantatrocious

Example

More examples

"Manners were not flagitious, they were merely of a nauseous insipidity."

Etymology

From Old French flagitieux or Latin flāgitiōsus, both ultimately from flāgitium (“shameful crime”), related to flagrum (“whip”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.