different between detestable vs flagitious

English

Etymology

From Middle French détestable; surface analysis detest +? -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??t?st?bl?/
• Hyphenation: de?test?able

Adjective

detestable (comparative more detestable, superlative most detestable)

1. Stimulating disgust or detestation; offensive; shocking.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "detestable" is often applied: crime, thing, practices, act, character, nature, person, conduct, villain, behavior.

Derived terms

• detestableness

Related terms

Translations

See also

• hateful
• abominable
• loathsome
• horrid

Anagrams

• seatbelted

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin d?test?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /detes?table/, [d?e.t?es?t?a.??le]

Adjective

detestable (plural detestables)

1. detestable

English

Etymology

Old French flagitieux or Latin fl?giti?sus, both ultimately from fl?gitium (“shameful crime”), related to flagrum (“whip”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fl??d????s/

Adjective

flagitious (comparative more flagitious, superlative most flagitious)

1. (literary) Guilty of terrible crimes; wicked, criminal.
   • 1716 Nov 7th, quoted from 1742, probably Alexander Pope, God's Revenge Against Punning, from Miscellanies, 3rd volume, page 227:

     This young Nobleman was not only a flagitious Punster himself, but was accessary to the Punning of others, by Consent, by Provocation, by Connivance, and by Defence of the Evil committed […] .
2. (literary) Extremely brutal or wicked; heinous, monstrous.

   Synonyms: infamous, scandalous, nefarious, iniquitous

   • 1959 (1985), Rex Stout, "Assault on a Brownstone", Death Times Three, page 186:

     As he entered he boomed: "Monstrous! Flagitious!"

References