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What Does “Egregious” Mean? How to Use It in a Sentence?

What Does “Egregious” Mean? How to Use It in a Sentence?

Most people or things in life are or function according to certain predefined conventions. However, there are individuals, their actions or attitudes, circumstances in general, etc., that deviate from the norm or stick out in a good or not so good way. Some of those outliers could be terrible or glaringly bad, or, in other words, outright “egregious”.

The word “egregious” means “extraordinary or shocking in a bad way”. The term initially had a positive connotation. Over a period, due to ironical usage, “egregious” almost permanently assumed a negative trait. In sentences, therefore, do not use the word to praise or applaud anything or anyone.

“Egregious” has deep-seated roots, which has to a great extent influenced the core definition of the word. Keep reading to learn more about the term’s meaning, origin, how to incorporate the word in your texts, and a host of other pertinent information.

“Egregious” – Meaning

“Egregious” means “glaringly bad” or “bad beyond a reasonable level”. The synonyms for the term include “flagrant”, “appalling”, “intolerable”, “gross”, etc. An “egregious” error could be unforgiving or have irreversible consequences. The archaic or obsolete meaning of the word is “eminent” or “distinguished”.

The term denotes “strikingly bad”, which is why words such as “obvious”, “conspicuous”, “striking”, “pronounced”, etc., are not proper synonyms of the word. They just represent half of the meaning of “egregious”. The replacement word must have a negative connotation to it, like the alternative words above.

In other words. “egregious” means “standing out” but in a genuinely offensive or wrong way.

egregious origin man compliment

The Term’s Origin

As mentioned above, there’s history to how “egregious” came to be. The word is derived from “egregius”, the Latin term that means “eminent” or “distinguished”. That explains the original or archaic meaning of “egregious”.

Initially, “egregious” was used as a compliment for something or someone exceptionally good, which helped the thing or person stand out from the crowd. However, over a period, the term assumed a lesser complimentary or congratulatory sense, likely due to the original meaning getting used ironically in texts and conversations.

Notably, “egregius” was also used sarcastically, which significantly influenced its derivative term’s meaning. In short, “egregious” currently means “extraordinary”, but not in a positive way.

Using the Term “Egregious” in Texts

“Egregious” is an adjective. But it can also be used in texts as a noun or an adverb, or “egregiousness” or “egregiously”. The following are sentences using the term in its various avatars:

  • He should be held accountable for the egregious comments he made in front of the kids during his speech.
  • He abused his teammates egregiously for the project’s failure despite knowing it wasn’t their fault at all. The blunder was due to his wrongdoing.
  • He must be punished for defying the institution’s rules egregiously.
  • The politician had bribed multiple officials to get her daughter into the prestigious institution. Her act’s egregiousness, unfortunately, was discovered posthumously.
  • His actions’ egregiousness earned him the “bad boy” title – which unexpectedly got him a lot of female attention.

(More example sentences with the term “egregious” can be found later in the article.)

As mentioned above, “egregious” was initially used as a compliment. Here is an example sentence illustrating that:

  • I ain’t so egregious a scientist as she is.
  • Martha’s academic performance is egregious. She topped in all of the subjects.
  • James’ egregious performance has earned him a spot on the prestigious list.

In the above sentence, “egregious” means “great” or “exceptional”. But because only the negative sense of the word has managed to survive the times, it’s not recommended to use the term to signify “outstanding”, or do not call or describe anything or anybody “egregious” if the intention is to praise.

egregious text block

Example Sentences with the Word “Egregious”

The following are sentences that use the adjective “egregious” correctly or denoting the negative sense of the word:

  • The firm’s shareholders believe the top executives egregiously breached their trust by shading the truth, cooking the books, and enriching themselves in the process.
  • You cannot rewrite history, but its egregious errors could be corrected – at least partially, if not in its entirety.
  • It was an egregious case of political bias.
  • The theme was blighted by several egregious spelling errors.
  • The director-general deployed the monolithic force to combat wrongdoing and carry out egregious misuses of power.
  • The egregious mistake the two committed was not spending quality time with each other while they were married to each other. Had they spent enough time, they would have been together now.
  • The error was too egregious not to warrant a proper explanation.
  • An egregious error resulted in the removal of his name from the offender’s list.
  • The prices were not egregious, but it wasn’t too hard to find the same goods for a much lesser price elsewhere.
  • The senator misusing the funds was an egregious case of public trust violation.
  • To me, he seems egregiously selfish and also dishonest.
  • The hedge fund accused the organization of egregiously misrepresenting returns.
  • The judge cited the guy’s egregious wildlife crimes during the prosecution.
  • Those were just a few of the extremely egregious use of force by the police on the protestors.
  • She was acting plain egregious by speaking aloud during the sermon.
  • Her jokes were egregious.
  • I cannot fathom the fact that she uses such egregious words when speaking to her spouse. It’s not surprising the two are now divorced.
  • What he did was an egregious protocol breach.
  • The way the company handled all the controversies surrounding it was egregious. Had it responded otherwise, it still would have been in business.
  • We were hoping for some constructive criticism and not egregious remarks.
  • The third instance is more egregious as it entails a clear misinterpretation.
  • Sexual abuse is an egregious act – plain and simple.

Example Sentences with the Word “Egregiously”

“Egregiously” is another commonly used term in texts. The following are sentences that demonstrate how the adverb gets incorporated into a variety of contexts:

  • She was ousted from the firm egregiously for no apparent fault of hers.
  • The way he behaved during the period was egregiously irresponsible. If it weren’t for his outlandish and eccentric actions, he wouldn’t have been in the legal soup that he is in currently.
  • He was warned by his stepfather egregiously to pack his backs and move out of the house at the earliest.
  • The journalist did tender an apology for the egregiously flawed data presented by him through his articles on the crucial matter.
  • The allegations she egregiously made had grabbed her a spot in the headlines for one week straight for not the right reasons.
  • Only the ultra-rich can afford to buy such egregiously expensive products. Others will have to look for flea market options or be content with not having those goods at all.
  • They refused to donate money to the cause egregiously despite being more than capable of shelling out a few thousand dollars without giving it any thought.

girl egregious

Example Sentences with the Word “Egregiousness”

The term “egregiousness” is not as commonly used in texts as “egregious” or “egregiously”. But it is a valid term, and the need to use it in your sentences could arise at any point during your writing. The following example sentences give you an idea about how the noun fits into texts:

  • He had the arrogance of a brat and egregiousness to go with it. The attitude could be attributed to the fact that he was brought up with wealth surrounding him but had no clue what it took to earn that kind of money.
  • They should be chastised for their hypocritical morality’s egregiousness. They should keep their mouths shut if they simply cannot walk the talk.
  • Inflation rates went up with unrestrained egregiousness, and the people were simply not able to bear the rising prices anymore.
  • The student was expelled for the continual egregiousness of her behavior.
  • The article threw light on the egregiousness with which firms were shrinking maternity leave options for their employees when they should have been doing the exact opposite.
  • It was tough to fathom the scenario’s egregiousness – pretty much each person in the family misused their business and political connections for ulterior motives.
  • She hardly recognizes the egregiousness of those insults hurled at her.
  • The newspaper has had its fair share of egregiousness and pomposities in the past.
  • It has become increasingly complex to place red marks on the disc for the egregiousness.
  • That isn’t to lessen the unacceptability or egregiousness of those behaviors.
  • Currently, the egregiousness of the threshold is lowered, and the bar for ecumenical etiquette has been set relatively high.

Conclusion

To conclude, being “egregious” didn’t start as “bad”. It was quite clearly a good thing initially. But because English is an evolving language – with new words getting added quite regularly and existing terms seeing changes or a complete transformation in their meanings due to contemporary usage – “egregious” had a change in its connotation too.

Therefore, if you’re using the word in your texts, make sure you incorporate the term in your sentences in a negative sense. Using the word otherwise could inadvertently hurt another person’s feelings, or you may end up saying things not the way you meant to.