Atrocious

Pronunciation

• IPA: /É™'tɹəʊʃəs/
• Rhymes: -əʊʃəs

Origin

From Latin atrox ("fierce, frightful, cruel"), from ater ("black").

Full definition of atrocious

Adjective

1. Frightful, evil, cruel or monstrous.
   Prisons have been the sites of atrocious mistreatment of prisoners.
2. Offensive or heinous.
3. Very bad; abominable or disgusting.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, 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.
4. Their taste in clothes is just atrocious.

Usage notes

Nouns to which "atrocious" is often applied: crime, act, murder, condition, spelling, grammar.

Related terms

• atrocity