Word Study
atrocious
CIDE DICTIONARY
atrocious, a. [L. atrox, atrocis, cruel, fierce: cf. F. atroce.].
- Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness; as, atrocious guilt or deeds. [1913 Webster]
- Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity. [1913 Webster]"Revelations . . . so atrocious that nothing in history approaches them." [1913 Webster]
- Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious distempers. Cheyne. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
atrocious, adj.
1 very bad or unpleasant (atrocious weather; their manners were atrocious).
2 extremely savage or wicked (atrocious cruelty).
1 very bad or unpleasant (atrocious weather; their manners were atrocious).
2 extremely savage or wicked (atrocious cruelty).
Derivative
atrociously adv. atrociousness n.
Etymology
L atrox -ocis cruel
THESAURUS
atrocious
Draconian, Tartarean, aberrant, abject, abnormal, abominable, abusive, acute, afflictive, agonizing, animal, anthropophagous, appalling, arrant, atrocious, awful, backhand, backhanded, bad, baneful, barbaric, barbarous, base, beastly, beggarly, beneath contempt, bestial, biting, black, blamable, blameworthy, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, calumnious, cannibalistic, cheesy, contemptible, contumelious, cramping, criminal, cruel, cruel-hearted, crummy, crying, damnable, dark, debased, degraded, degrading, delinquent, demoniac, demoniacal, deplorable, depraved, desperate, despicable, detestable, deviant, devilish, diabolic, dire, dirty, disgraceful, disgusting, displeasing, distasteful, distressing, dreadful, egregious, enormous, evil, excruciating, execrable, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, fetid, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, filthy, flagitious, flagrant, foul, frightful, fulsome, ghastly, glaring, gnawing, grave, grievous, grim, griping, grisly, gross, gruesome, hard, hardly the thing, harrowing, harsh, hateful, heinous, hellish, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, humiliating, hurtful, hurting, icky, ignominious, illegal, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, indecorous, infamous, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, iniquitous, insolent, insulting, kill-crazy, knavish, lamentable, left-handed, little, loathsome, lousy, low, low-down, lumpen, malign, malignant, mangy, mean, measly, merciless, miserable, monstrous, murderous, nasty, naughty, nefarious, noisome, noncivilized, not done, not the thing, notorious, obnoxious, obscene, odious, off-base, off-color, offensive, out-of-line, outrageous, painful, paltry, paroxysmal, peccant, petty, piercing, pitiable, pitiful, pitiless, poignant, poky, poor, pungent, racking, rank, regrettable, reprehensible, reprobate, rotten, ruthless, sacrilegious, sad, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, scabby, scandalous, schlock, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurrile, scurrilous, scurvy, severe, shabby, shameful, shameless, sharkish, sharp, shocking, shoddy, shooting, sickening, sinful, slavering, small, sordid, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, squalid, stabbing, stinging, subhuman, tameless, terrible, too bad, tormenting, torturous, tragic, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, unclean, undue, unfit, unfitting, unforgivable, ungentle, unhuman, unlawful, unmentionable, unpardonable, unrighteous, unseemly, unspeakable, unsuitable, untamed, unworthy, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, wild, woeful, wolfish, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong, wrongfulROGET THESAURUS
atrocious
Malevolence
N malevolence, bad intent, bad intention, unkindness, diskindness, ill nature, ill will, ill blood, bad blood, enmity, hate, malignity, malice, malice prepense, maliciousness, spite, despite, resentment, uncharitableness, incompassionateness, gall, venom, rancor, rankling, virulence, mordacity, acerbity churlishness, hardness of heart, heart of stone, obduracy, cruelty, cruelness, brutality, savagery, ferity, ferocity, barbarity, inhumanity, immanity, truculence, ruffianism, evil eye, cloven foot, torture, vivisection, ill turn, bad turn, affront, outrage, atrocity, ill usage, intolerance, persecution, tender mercies, unkindest cut of all, malevolent, unbenevolent, unbenign, ill-disposed, ill-intentioned, ill-natured, ill-conditioned, ill-contrived, evil-minded, evil- disposed, black-browed, malicious, malign, malignant, rancorous, despiteful, spiteful, mordacious, caustic, bitter, envenomed, acrimonious, virulent, unamiable, uncharitable, maleficent, venomous, grinding, galling, harsh, disobliging, unkind, unfriendly, ungracious, inofficious, invidious, uncandid, churlish, surly, sullen, cold, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, black-hearted, hard-hearted, flint-hearted, marble-hearted, stony-hearted, hard of heart, unnatural, ruthless, relentless, cruel, brutal, brutish, savage, savage as a bear, savage as a tiger, ferine, ferocious, inhuman, barbarous, barbaric, semibarbaric, fell, untamed, tameless, truculent, incendiary, bloodthirsty, atrocious, bloodyminded, fiendish, fiendlike, demoniacal, diabolic, diabolical, devilish, infernal, hellish, Satanic, Tartaran, malevolently, with bad intent, cruel as death, hard unkindness' alter'd eye, homo homini lupus, mala mens, malus animus, rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind, sharp-tooth'd unkindness.Vice
N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.For further exploring for "atrocious" in Webster Dictionary Online