ATROCIOUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Atrocious

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/ətrˈoʊʃəs/ Listen

adjective

Atrocious adj.

Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness; as, atrocious guilt or deeds.

Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity. "Revelations... so atrocious that nothing in history approaches them."

Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious distempers. (Obs.)

Synonyms: Atrocious, Flagitious, Flagrant. Flagitious points to an act as grossly wicked and vile; as, a flagitious proposal. 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.

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Etymology of 'Atrocious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Atrocious" Quotes from Famous Books

... again the nun was still in the room, and, with her, Sander, talking the most atrocious French. A queer contrast. One of the world worldly, a moth that battened on the seamy side; the other far above the wickedness ...

— Dross • Henry Seton Merriman

... atrocious grimace. Then, "Yes, monsieur, the Mayor of Bottitort," he said frankly. "A year ago he put Philibert in the stocks for a riddle; that is his affair. And the woman of this house has more than once befriended me, and he is for turning her out for a debt she does not owe; and that is my affair. However, ...

— From the Memoirs of a Minister of France • Stanley Weyman

... portion of our population thought the French people were perfectly justified in revolting, and warmly espoused their cause. Later many changed their opinions, shocked, as every one was, at the death of the king and queen, and the atrocious massacres which took place in France. Yet some not only approved of the revolution abroad, but were so disgusted with our mal-administration at home, to which they attributed our failure in the war ...

— Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville • Mary Somerville

... itself slowly away. When the school compared notes at 12.30, the girls agreed that they had never in their lives before been given such an atrocious and detestable set of examination papers. The Sixth had fared as badly as the Fifth or the juniors, and even monitresses were loud in their complaints. Certain viva voces taken in the afternoon confirmed their ill opinion ...

— The Madcap of the School • Angela Brazil

... The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their ...

— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett

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