| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 49. blatant / flagrant |
| Was that foul whistled by the referee blatant or flagrant? It could be either. It could be both (though you might think this a bit of overkill). Blatant and flagrant are often confused, which is not all that surprising since the words have overlapping meanings. Both attribute conspicuousness and offensiveness to certain acts, but the words differ in emphasis.
Blatant means “offensively conspicuous,” and thus emphasizes the actor’s failure to conceal the act. Flagrant, on the other hand, means “conspicuously offensive,” and emphasizes the serious wrongdoing inherent in the offense. Thus a violation of human rights may be blatant or flagrant. If it was committed with contempt for public scrutiny, it is blatant. If its barbarity was monstrous, it was flagrant. | 1 |
| Blatant can also mean “unpleasantly loud.” People sometimes use it to mean “obvious,” as in the blatant danger of such an approach, but this use has not been established and is widely considered an error. | 2 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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