What does egregious mean?
Word: Egregious
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Egregious means extremely bad and very easy to notice, as in an egregious mistake or an egregious waste of money.
Synonyms: glaring, outrageous, shocking
Antonyms: minor, trivial, slight
Word origin: Comes from Latin egregius, outstanding, from e (out of) and grex, gregis (a flock): standing out from the herd.
How do you spell egregious?
Syllables: e - gre - gious
Tricky part: The ending is gious, with the g said like j, as in religious. Students often write geous, as in gorgeous, or leave out the i.
Watch out for: egregeous, egregous
Memory tip: Religious and prestigious end with the same gious; nothing gorgeous about an egregious mistake, so no geous here.
Egregious in a sentence
Example 1: Charging Rs 200 for a bottle of water at the station was an egregious case of overpricing.
Example 2: The umpire's egregious error changed the result of the final over.
Example 3: Leaving the tap running all night was an egregious waste of water during the drought.
Fun Fact
When egregious came into English in the 1500s it was a word of praise for someone outstanding. The sense of shockingly bad took over later.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its synonym:
1. egregious 2. meagre 3. candid a. scanty b. frank c. flagrant
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
Show answer
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. An egregious mistake is a flagrant one, a meagre meal is scanty, and a candid reply is frank.
Jumble Tumble
What is the meaning of the word that can be formed from the given letters?
gesuoreig
a) so shockingly bad that it stands out
b) showing deep respect for someone
c) wanting much more than you need
d) liking to be with other people
Show answer
a) so shockingly bad that it stands out. The nine letters spell egregious, a word for something shockingly bad.
Spell Spies
Choose the pair which has a spelling error:
a) vivid : bright
b) lucid : clear
c) egrigious : glaring
d) futile : useless
Show answer
c) egrigious : glaring. Each pair joins two words of similar meaning; the vowel after gr in the first word should be e.
Word Champ
Read the statements and choose the correct option:
1. An egregious error is a tiny slip that nobody notices. 2. A lenient teacher is gentle when giving punishments. 3. A prestigious award is one that is greatly respected.
a) only 2 and 3 are true
b) only 1 and 3 are true
c) all three are true
d) only 1 is true
Show answer
a) only 2 and 3 are true. An egregious error is shockingly bad and plain to see, so statement 1 is false.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Pick the egregious error from this list.
a) a bank paying the wrong person a crore
b) a small smudge on a page
c) a pencil that needs sharpening
d) a late bus on a rainy day
Show answer
a) a bank paying the wrong person a crore
2. An egregious spelling mistake in a newspaper headline would be
a) seen by nobody at all
b) praised by English teachers
c) noticed by almost every reader
d) too small to matter
Show answer
c) noticed by almost every reader
