Egregious

[One Tin Soldier]

Ok, playgrounders, I am in need of your help with gathering ideas for an english paper. Off the top of your head, tell me what you think the word "egregious" means. NO CHEATING. And don't worry about being wrong, that's actually kinda the point. Or if you have personally seen someone use it completely wrong, you can share that too.

And I don't need to be linked to TvTropes. That's where I got the idea in the first place.

[Keld Denar]

Terrible, to the point of being offensive?

I think...

[AsteriskAmp]

Outstandingly bad/good

[arguskos]

One of two defintions:

1. Terrible, awful, absurdly bad.
2. An archaic definition of "egregious" which can still be found in old texts is "surprisingly good".

[Dvil]

I was going to say like a very prominent or outstanding example of something, but now I'm doubting myself since the previous posters seem to think it's also a measure of quality.

Oh well, I'll stick with my original. A prominent or outstanding example of something.

EDITed to add spoiler

[One Tin Soldier]

Like I said, don't worry about being wrong, and post whatever your first thought was, no matter what other people say. I'm actually looking for the wrong answers.

[Destro_Yersul]

to a large extent. If something is egregious, it has been turned up to 11, so to speak.

[Mathis]

Yeah I have no idea, but the first thing that struck me was "Obnoxious", perhaps even "Disgusting".

[Partof1]

Yeah, I'd have to go with exceptionally bad, though exceptionally good is usable as well.

[Keld Denar]

to a large extent. If something is egregious, it has been turned up to 11, so to speak.
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/spinal_tap_amps.png
Egregious comic is egregious!

[Asta Kask]

Ok, playgrounders, I am in need of your help with gathering ideas for an english paper. Off the top of your head, tell me what you think the word "egregious" means. NO CHEATING. And don't worry about being wrong, that's actually kinda the point. Or if you have personally seen someone use it completely wrong, you can share that too.

And I don't need to be linked to TvTropes. That's where I got the idea in the first place.

1) Everyone should spoiler their answers.


2) Egregious - outsanding in some way, today often outstandingly bad.

[Halae]

Either Crazy good or crazy bad

[Eldan]

I wouldn't just say outstanding. I'm not a native speaker, and I often just build my own definition of words from interpreting context, but to me, it means not just standing out, but overly so. Standing out to the point of becoming almost obnoxious and annoying. So enormously prominent you can't overlook it.

[AgentofOdd]

TvTropes makes me think it means an extreme example of something. Not sure if the examples have to always be negative though. And now, TO THE DICTIONARY!

[Calmar]

Saint Egregious the Unyielding (824-862 A.D.), Converter of the Galindians and Martyr of the faith... :smalltongue:

[pendell]

Over the top. Wayy over the top. Could be very good
or very bad, but usually means very bad. "Very good egregious" would be more along the lines of "exceptional" or "fantastic" or "outstanding". Egregious by itself usually has negative connottations.

Example: If , in baseball, a fielder throws a ball to another player, and the guy doesn't catch it, that's an error.

If the fielder throws the ball, and it comes nowhere near it's intended target, goes off the playing field altogether and into the stands, striking a political official on the head and killing him, resulting in mass riots by his supporters, resulting in the stadium being burned down ... that's an egregious error.

Or another example: If a three-year-old child flubs a math error, say 2+2=5; that's an error.

If the same error is committed by Herr Doctor Professor Von Scheldt at CERN research laboratories, and moreover does it repeatedly throughout a scientific paper -- that's an egregious error, a blunder of epic magnitude. It's so far below the expected standard that the person will have to produce a paper along the lines of re-inventing General Relativity to have a hope of recovering his credibility.


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Worira]

Outstanding or blatant, excessive. Negative connotation.

[Mauve Shirt]

Over the top. Usually in a bad way.

[John Cribati]

Superfluous. Unnecessary.

[Trog]

unnecessarily excessive

[TheThan]

First thing I thought of was “private areas”, as in egregious zone.
apparently i'm wrong...

also am i the only one that didn't look it up before replying? or does everyone else just know what it means already.

[Calmar]

First thing I thought of was “private areas”, as in egregious zone.
apparently i'm wrong...

also am i the only one that didn't look it up before replying? or does everyone else just know what it means already.

Well, at first glance I saw gregorious, which, in hindsight, appears quite wrong. You definitely appear smarter, if you in fact look it up first, I suppose.

[Science Officer]

Something like 'flagrant' I believe.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

No bloody clue. :smallbiggrin:

[The_JJ]

Especially bad, with connotations of being flagrant, noticeable, or particularly offensive.

E.g. 'Their whole set was bad, but that last song was particularly egregious.'

May have more a more value (bad/good) neutral definition, but if it does it's rarely used that way.

[Lord Seth]

Egregious means bad, and usually carries the implication that it's bad because of overdoing something. It tends to be used more often in its adverb form, egregiously, however.

As a fun note, it used to mean really good, but somehow the definition got turned around, giving the current definition.

[Coidzor]

Bad via being overdone or overwrought.

Or something so heinous and bad that it's just something that ought not to be stood for. Something so wrong that either the extent of its wrongness or the size of the transgression adds a new dimension of wrong.

[Glass Mouse]

Uh, non-native English speaker here. Dunno if that disqualifies me, but...

I think it means something like "really, really frustrating; going on someone's nerves".

Not at all sure, though. I'm gonna go look it up now :smallwink:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

My mum the book editor says, off the top of her head "Particularly bad, and the person's fault it's bad"

[mucat]

Not having read other people's answers, since that would defeat the point of the OP...

Excessive. Excessively bad, excessively good, excessively loud...but even in the "excessively good" case, still tastelessly excessive. Less would have been better.


EDIT: And now that I have read other people's answers...

First thing I thought of was “private areas”, as in egregious zone.
apparently i'm wrong...
Than, I think the word you're thinking of is "erogenous". Very different word...

[Coidzor]

EDIT: And now that I have read other people's answers...

Than, I think the word you're thinking of is "erogenous". Very different word...

Indeed. One definitely does not want to be egregious around erogenous zones... :smalleek:

[Saposhiente]

Outstanding or noticeable, usually derogatory.

[One Tin Soldier]

Thanks, everyone, this will be quite helpful.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

For something to be "egregious" now means that something is remarkably, or even shockingly, bad. However, an archaic use conveyed essentially the opposite denotation.

[Kallisti]

I'm quite certain that it means excessive or shocking, as in egregious violations or egregious arrogance. Similar to flagrant in what it generally modifies, although it means something different.

I'm I'm wrong I will be very shocked.

[Zocelot]

I believe egregious is a synonym for terrible

Also, depending on what you are doing with your data, you should remember that the people who reply to this thread are not representative of the forum. The participation rate will be much higher amongst people who think they know what the answer is.

[Spartacus]

Excessive, very, turned up to 11.

If I'm wrong, a lot of phrases will have their meanings changed for me.