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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--flagrante delicto 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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