Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Atrocious
A-tro′cious
,Adj.
[L.
atrox
, atrocis
, cruel, fierce: cf. F. atroce
.] 1.
Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness;
as,
. atrocious
guilt or deeds2.
Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity.
Revelations . . . so
atrocious
that nothing in history approaches them. De Quincey.
3.
Very grievous or violent; terrible;
as,
. atrocious
distempers[Obs.]
Cheyne.
Flagitious points to an act as grossly wicked and vile;
– as, a
. Flagrant marks the vivid impression made upon the mind by something strikingly wrong or erroneous; as, a flagrant misrepresentation; a flagrant violation of duty. Atrocious represents the act as springing from a violent and savage spirit. If Lord Chatham, instead of saying “the atrocious crime of being a young man,” had used either of the other two words, his irony would have lost all its point, in his celebrated reply to Sir Robert Walpole, as reported by Dr. Johnson. flagitious
proposalA-tro′cious-ly
, adv.
A-tro′cious-ness
, Noun.
Webster 1828 Edition
Atrocious
ATRO'CIOUS
,Adj.
1.
Extremely hainous, criminal or cruel; enormous; outrageous; as atrocious guilt or offense.2.
Very grievous; violent; as atrocious distempers.Definition 2024
atrocious
atrocious
English
Adjective
atrocious (comparative more atrocious, superlative most atrocious)
- Frightful, evil, cruel or monstrous.
- Prisons have been the sites of atrocious mistreatment of prisoners.
- Offensive or heinous. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- Very bad; abominable or disgusting.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
- The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.
- Their taste in clothes is just atrocious.
-
Usage notes
- Nouns to which "atrocious" is often applied: crime, act, murder, condition, spelling, grammar.
Related terms
Translations
evil, cruel
offensive, heinous
abominable, disgusting
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