egregious

jennarenn commented on the word egregious

Sometimes a word slips itself into every available conversation, until I begin to annoy even myself. This weekend it was egregious.

October 8, 2007

kewpid commented on the word egregious

To be outstanding.

October 8, 2007

logophile commented on the word egregious

It means "conspicuously bad or offensive."

October 24, 2007

kewpid commented on the word egregious

The archaic meaning is 'outstanding'. But it has evolved to mean 'outstandingly bad'.

November 9, 2007

yarb commented on the word egregious

Meanwhile 'outstanding' has evolved to mean (more often than not) 'outstandingly good'.

November 9, 2007

bilby commented on the word egregious

"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the government workplace safety regulator, had not visited Imperial Sugar's Port Wentworth facility since 2000. When inspectors examined the blast site after the fact, they found rampant violations of the agency's already inadequate standards. They proposed a more than $5 million fine, and issuance of citations for 61 egregious willful violations, eight willful violations and 51 serious violations. Under OSHA's rules, a 'serious' citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to occur, a 'willful' violation is a violation committed with plain indifference to employee safety and health, and 'egregious' citations are issued for particularly flagrant violations."

- Robert Weissman, 'The System Implodes: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008', The Multinational Monitor, 23 Nov 2008.

November 26, 2008

garyth123 commented on the word egregious

first came across this word when an KAL 007 was shot down

December 6, 2008

mainframeguy commented on the word egregious

My father recently decided that egregious was the best word to use to describe him. I think he likes the idea of being notorious... But that is really something else again.

January 5, 2009

milosrdenstvi commented on the word egregious

From Latin e(x) + grex, out of the herd. Originally used as a compliment, later came to be used ironically which is the meaning it has today. Strangely a similar thing seems to have happened to gregarious.

June 3, 2009

rebeca commented on the word egregious

Rudy Waltz from Kurt Vonnegut's Deadeye Dick explains how this word would fit in a parade of neuters:

“These were my people—as used as I was to wanting love from nowhere, as certain as I was that almost anything desirable was likely to be booby-trapped. I had a fairly funny idea. Someday all we neuters would come out of our closets and form a parade. I even decided what banner our front rank should carry, as wide as Fifth Avenue. A single word would be printed on it in letters four feet high:

EGREGIOUS.

Most people think that word means terrible or unheard of or unforgivable. It has a much more interesting story than that to tell. It means ‘outside the herd.’ Imagine that—thousands of people, outside the herd.”

December 10, 2012

Alonka commented on the word egregious

вопиющий, полный, совершенный, абсолютный

February 11, 2013

prabhasharma commented on the word egregious

started from latinroot "grex" meaning flock..deteriorated to mean being distinguished from the common in a negative sense... latin root ('e') means out of

August 21, 2013

mohitanand commented on the word egregious

standing out in a negative way; shockingly bad

The dictator’s abuse of human rights was so egregious that many world leaders demanded that he be tried in an international court for genocide.

October 11, 2016