blatant

blatant
\ \ [16] Blatant appears to have been coined, or at least introduced, by the poet Edmund Spenser. In the Faerie Queene 1596 he describes how ‘unto themselves they [Envy and Detraction] gotten had a monster which the blatant beast men call, a dreadful fiend of gods and men ydrad [dreaded]’. This ‘blatant beast’ was an allegorical representation of calumny. In the 17th century the word came to be applied to offensively voluble people, but the main modern sense, ‘offensively conspicuous’, does not seem to have developed until the late 19th century. If the word was Spenser’s own introduction, it is not clear where he got it from. The likeliest candidate seems to be Latin blatīrebabble, gossip’, of imitative origin.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Blatant — Bla tant, a. [Cf. {Bleat}.] Bellowing, as a calf; bawling; brawling; clamoring; disagreeably clamorous; sounding loudly and harshly. Harsh and blatant tone. R. H. Dana. [1913 Webster] A monster, which the blatant beast men call. Spenser. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • blatant — blatant, flagrant 1. Blatant was, invented late in the 16c by the poet Spenser as an epithet of a thousand tongued monster in The Faerie Queene. It now means ‘glaringly conspicuous’, and overlaps in meaning with flagrant but has rather less of… …   Modern English usage

  • blatant — (adj.) 1596, in blatant beast, coined by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queen to describe a thousand tongued monster representing slander; probably suggested by L. blatire to babble. It entered general use 1650s, as noisy in an offensive and vulgar …   Etymology dictionary

  • blatant — [adj1] obvious; brazen arrant, bald, barefaced, brassy, clear, conspicuous, crying, flagrant, flashy, flaunting, garish, gaudy, glaring, glitzy, impudent, loud, meretricious, naked, obtrusive, ostentatious, outright, overbold, overt, plain,… …   New thesaurus

  • blatant — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ open and unashamed; flagrant. DERIVATIVES blatancy noun blatantly adverb. ORIGIN first used by the poet Edmund Spenser in blatant beast to describe a thousand tongued monster, then in the sense «clamorous»: perhaps from Scots… …   English terms dictionary

  • blatant — [blāt′ nt] adj. [coined by SPENSER2 Edmund, prob. < L blaterare, to babble, or E dial. blate, to bellow] 1. disagreeably loud or boisterous; clamorous 2. glaringly conspicuous or obtrusive [blatant ignorance] SYN. VOCIFEROUS blatantly adv …   English World dictionary

  • blatant — I (conspicuous) adjective apparent, celebrated, clear, discernible, exposed, famous, manifest, noticeable, notorious, observable, obvious, outstanding, overt, patent, perceivable, plain, prominent, public, sensational, well known II (obtrusive)… …   Law dictionary

  • blatant — clamorous, *vociferous, strident, boisterous, obstreperous Analogous words: assertive, self assertive, pushing, *aggressive, militant: *vocal, articulate, voluble, glib: vulgar, *coarse, gross Antonyms: decorous: reserved Contrasted words: * …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • blatant — [16] Blatant appears to have been coined, or at least introduced, by the poet Edmund Spenser. In the Faerie Queene 1596 he describes how ‘unto themselves they [Envy and Detraction] gotten had a monster which the blatant beast men call, a dreadful …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • blatant —  , flagrant  The words are not quite synonymous. Something that is blatant is glaringly obvious and contrived ( a blatant lie ) or willfully obnoxious ( blatant commercialization ) or both. Something that is flagrant is shocking and reprehensible ( …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • blatant — blatancy, n. blatantly, adv. /blayt nt/, adj. 1. brazenly obvious; flagrant: a blatant error in simple addition; a blatant lie. 2. offensively noisy or loud; clamorous: blatant radios. 3. tastelessly conspicuous: the blatant colors of the dress.… …   Universalium

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