English

Noun

atrocity ‎(countable and uncountable, plural atrocities)

1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being atrocious; enormous wickedness; extreme criminality or cruelty.
2. (countable) An extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
   • 1943, Declaration of the Four Nations on General Security:

     The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union have received from many quarters evidence of atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by Hitlerite forces in many of the countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled.

Related terms

• atrocious

Translations

See also

• heinousness
• criminality
• brutality

Anagrams

• citatory