Flagrant, glaring, gross, rank are comparable as derogatory intensives meaning conspicuously or outstandingly bad or unpleasant.
Flagrant usually applies to offenses, transgressions, or errors which are so bad that they cannot escape notice or be condoned.
Glaring carries an even stronger implication of obtrusiveness than flagrant; the term is often applied to something which is so evidently or so conspicuously wrong, improper, or faulty as to inflict such distress or pain upon the observer as might too vivid a color or too harsh a light.
Gross (see also COARSE ); (see also WHOLE 2 ) is even more derogatory than flagrant or glaring because it suggests a magnitude or degree of badness that is beyond all bounds and wholly inexcusable or unpardonable. However, the term is not so often referred to evil acts or serious offenses as it is to human attitudes, qualities, or faults that merit severe condemnation.
Rank (see also RANK 1 ) applies chiefly to nouns that are terms of reproach; it implies that the person or thing described by such a term is extremely, utterly, or violently whatever he or it is declared to be.