Flagrant means shockingly obvious and impossible to ignore, usually describing something bad or wrong. When a referee calls a flagrant foul in basketball, the player didn't just accidentally bump someone: they committed a violation so clear and severe that everyone in the arena could see it.

A flagrant lie isn't a small fib or misunderstanding. It's a lie so bold and obvious that it almost seems insulting. If your brother claims he didn't eat the cookies while chocolate crumbs cover his face, that's a flagrant lie. When a student copies an entire essay word-for-word from the internet, that's flagrant cheating.

Think of something flagrant as being so obvious it might as well be on fire: you simply cannot miss it. A flagrant violation of school rules isn't someone accidentally walking the wrong way in the hallway. It's someone spray-painting graffiti on the principal's car in broad daylight.

Flagrant describes actions that show either remarkable boldness or complete disregard for consequences. The person committing a flagrant violation often doesn't even try to hide what they're doing.