A.Word.A.Day -- flagrante delicto

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A.Word.A.Day--flagrante delicto

(fluh-GRAN-tee di-LIK-to)

adverb In the very act of committing the offense; red-handed.

[From Medieval Latin, literally, while the crime is blazing.]

"Mr. Big, the dung beetle, for instance, regularly patrols his tunnel to check on Mrs. Big, and if he catches her in flagrante delicto, he throws the interloper out."
Richard Conniff; Close Encounters of the Sneaky Kind; Smithsonian (Washington, DC); Jul 2003.

This week's theme: Terms from Latin

X-Bonus

If moral behavior were simply following rules, we could program a computer to be moral. -Samuel P. Ginder, US navy captain

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