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180 wordies list
egregious |
(adj): prenominal), egregious, flagrant, glaring, gross, rank -- (conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
(adj): vs. inconspicuous) -- (obvious to the eye or mind
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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.
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.
first came across this word when an KAL 007 was shot down
"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.
Meanwhile 'outstanding' has evolved to mean (more often than not) 'outstandingly good'.
The archaic meaning is 'outstanding'. But it has evolved to mean 'outstandingly bad'.
It means "conspicuously bad or offensive."
To be outstanding.
Sometimes a word slips itself into every available conversation, until I begin to annoy even myself. This weekend it was egregious.