In flagrante delicto

in Flagranti, Antwerp 1607

In flagrante delicto (Latin for "in blazing offence"), sometimes simply in flagrante ("in blazing"), is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence (compare corpus delicti). The colloquial "caught red-handed" and "caught rapid" are English equivalents.[1][2]

Aside from the legal meaning, the Latin term is often used colloquially as euphemism for someone being caught in the midst of [[sexual activity]].[3][4]

  1. ^ Jennifer Speake, ed. (1999). The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English. Berkley Books, Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Jonathan Law & Elizabeth A. Martin (2009). A Dictionary of Law. Oxford University Press.
  3. ^ "in flagrante". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2012. if somebody is found or caught in flagrante, they are discovered doing something that they should not be doing, especially having sex
  4. ^ "in flagrante delicto". Merriam-Webster. 2 : in the midst of sexual activity