- Conspicuously bad, offensive, or reprehensible: a flagrant miscarriage of justice; flagrant cases of wrongdoing at the highest levels of government. See Usage Note at blatant.
- Obsolete. Flaming; blazing.
[Latin flagrāns, flagrant-, present participle of flagrāre, to burn.]
flagrancy fla'gran·cy or fla'grance n.flagrantly fla'grant·ly adv.
SYNONYMS flagrant, glaring, gross, egregious, rank. These adjectives refer to what is conspicuously bad or offensive. Flagrant applies to what is so offensive that it cannot escape notice: flagrant disregard for the law. What is glaring is blatantly and painfully manifest: a glaring error; glaring contradictions. Gross suggests a magnitude of offense or failing that cannot be condoned or forgiven: gross ineptitude; gross injustice. What is egregious is outrageously bad: an egregious lie. Rank implies that the term it qualifies is as indicated to an extreme, violent, or gross degree: rank stupidity; rank treachery.
