Dictionary

in flagrante delicto en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ɪn fləˌɡɹæn.teɪ dɪˈlɪk.təʊ/
• (US) audio

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin in flagrante delicto (literally “while the crime is blazing”), from in + flāgrō (“burn”) + dēlictō, form of dēlīctum (“crime, misdeed”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) In the act of committing a misdeed.
   • He would be caught in flagrante delicto, and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would probably be induced to name his accomplice. 1908, Baroness Orczy, chapter V, in The Old Man in the Corner:
2. (not-comparable) While performing sexual activity.
   • I would add to that the fact that, if we are happy to be caught in flagrante delicto in a picturesque setting, there would be something almost humiliating about being caught somewhere as ugly as that. 2002, Adriana Hunter, transl., The Sexual Life of Catherine M., translation of La Vie Sexuelle de Catherine M. by Catherine Millet, page 146:
   • When his housemates, two men and a woman, found them in flagrante delicto, one reported, “She said she didn’t want us to think of her as ‘that girl.’ ” 2015 February 8, Naomi Schaefer Riley, “Columbia mattress rape case is not justice — it’s shaming without proof”, in New York Post:
   • As a student of the fossil record, I can assure you that it’s not often that creatures are transformed, in flagrante delicto, into memento mori. 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 65:
   • We've already established that you were one of Miss Scarlet's clients. That's why you were so desperate to get your hands on those negatives. Photographs of you and Yvette in flagrante delicto, remember? 1985, Jonathan Lynn, Clue, spoken by Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull):

Forms

Deriveds

in flagrante · in flagrant delict

Synonyms

with one's hand in the cookie jar · red-handed · in the act · with one's dick in one's hand · with one's pants down

Translations (17)

ru с поли́чным (in the act of committing a misdeed) · ru на ме́сте преступле́ния (in the act of committing a misdeed) · de auf frischer Tat (in the act of committing a misdeed) · bg на клъп (while performing sexual activity) · fr en flagrant délit (in the act of committing a misdeed) · bg на местопрестъплението (in the act of committing a misdeed) · sv med byxorna nere (while performing sexual activity) · da på fersk gerning (in the act of committing a misdeed) · de in flagranti (while performing sexual activity) · da med bukserne nede (while performing sexual activity) · ar مُتَلَبِّسًا (in the act of committing a misdeed) · pt batom na cueca (in the act of committing a misdeed) · de in flagranti (in the act of committing a misdeed) · sv med byxorna nere (in the act of committing a misdeed) · sv på bar gärning (in the act of committing a misdeed) · pt pego de calças curtas (while performing sexual activity) · it in flagranza di reato (in the act of committing a misdeed)