flagitious
/fləˈdʒɪʃəs/ adjective
- adjective (literary) Guilty of terrible crimes; wicked, criminal.
- adjective (literary) Extremely brutal or wicked; heinous, monstrous.
Synonyms
infamous scandalous nefarious iniquitous heinous atrocious grievous monstrous
Etymology
From Old French flagitieux or Latin flāgitiōsus, both ultimately from flāgitium (“shameful crime”), related to flagrum (“whip”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Disgracefully or shamefully criminal; grossly wicked; scandalous; shameful; --said of acts, crimes, etc. Debauched principles and flagitious practices. I. Taylor.
- adjective Guilty of enormous crimes; corrupt; profligate; --said of persons. Pope.
Etymology [L. flagitiosus, fr. flagitium a shameful or disgraceful act, orig., a burning desire, heat of passion, from flagitare to demand hotly, fiercely; cf. flagrare to burn, E. flagrant.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “flagitious”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details