“His egregious virtues were standing out from the flock in admirable ways.”
Semantic shift Entry 153 / 1011 60-second read
Egregious (Semantic Shift)
Originally meant 'remarkably good' — now means 'remarkably bad' or 'outrageous'.
The comparisoni
“His egregious errors were standing out from the crowd in terrible ways.”
More examplesii
01
His egregious character stood out from the flock in virtue.
His egregious behavior stood out from the crowd in shame.
02
The defendant's egregious honesty was remarkable.
The defendant's egregious fraud was shocking.
03
Her egregious scholarship distinguished her excellence.
His egregious mistake undermined the entire study.
The ruleiii
¶
SEMANTIC FLIP: Egregious flipped from 'standing out excellently' to 'standing out badly' throug…
Egregious comes from Latin 'egregius' meaning distinguished or excellent (ex + grex = out of the flock). Standing out is good... unless you're standing out for being terrible.
Memory aidiv
Remember it like this
Egregious means you stand out from the crowd — but now it's assumed to be for being badly wrong, not amazingly right.