flagitious

My dictionary says that flagitious is a synonym for villainous.

It’s been used in English since the 14th century, but I don’t think I’ve seen it before. (I encountered it recently in a Thurber essay.)

World Wide Words gives more info, and notes that the word is related to flagellate but not to flagrant.

One Response to “flagitious”

  1. irilyth

    I mis-read that as “flatigious”, which certainly sounds like something quite villainous.

    reply

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