atrocious

English

WOTD – 7 June 2017

Etymology

From Latin atrōx (“cruel, fierce, frightful”) +‎ -ious.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-trō′-shəs
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈtɹəʊʃəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈtɹoʊʃəs/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊʃəs
• Hyphenation: a‧tro‧cious

Adjective

atrocious (comparative more atrocious, superlative most atrocious)

1. Frightful, evil, cruel, or monstrous.

   Prisons have been the sites of atrocious mistreatment of prisoners.

2. Offensive or heinous.
   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, page 55:

     I had resolved in my own mind, that to create another like the fiend I had first made would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness; and I banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different conclusion.

3. Very bad; abominable, disgusting.

   Their taste in clothes is just atrocious.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Town-Ho’s Story. (As Told at the Golden Inn.)”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 280:

     Others of the sailors joined with them in this attempt, and a twisted turmoil ensued; while standing out of harm's way, the valiant captain danced up and down with a whale-pike, calling upon his officers to manhandle that atrocious scoundrel, and smoke him along to the quarter-deck.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 58:

     The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on a certain 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.

Derived terms

• atrociously
• atrociousness
• monstrocious
• vomitrocious

 

Related terms

• atrocity

Translations

frightful, evil, cruel, monstrous

• Bulgarian: жесток (bg) (žestok), брутален (bg) (brutalen)
• Catalan: atroç (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: grusom
• Dutch: vreselijk (nl), verschrikkelijk (nl), monsterlijk (nl), afgrijselijk (nl)
• Finnish: julma (fi), hirveä (fi)
• French: atroce (fr)
• Galician: atroz (gl) m or f
• Georgian: სასტიკი (ka) (sasṭiḳi)
• German: grauenhaft (de)
• Italian: atroce (it)
• Macedonian: ѕве́рски (dzvérski), грозомо́рен (grozomóren), же́сток (žéstok)
• Polish: zbrodniczy (pl), odrażający (pl)
• Portuguese: atroz (pt), cruel (pt), mau (pt)
• Romanian: atroce (ro)
• Russian: зве́рский (ru) (zvérskij), жесто́кий (ru) (žestókij)
• Slovak: strašný m, hrozný m, ukrutný m, zverský m, desivý m, obludný m, hrôzostrašný m, monštruózny m
• Spanish: atroz (es), malvado (es)
• Swedish: avskyvärd (sv)

offensive, heinous

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: oprørende
• Dutch: afschuwelijk (nl)
• Finnish: hirvittävä (fi), inhottava (fi), karmea (fi)
• French: atroce (fr)
• Italian: atroce (it)
• Macedonian: у́жасен (úžasen), гна́сен (gnásen)
• Portuguese: hediondo (pt)
• Romanian: atroce (ro)
• Russian: ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj), гну́сный (ru) (gnúsnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: užasan (sh) m
• Slovak: ohavný m, nechutný m, hnusný m, odporný m
• Spanish: ofensivo (es)
• Swedish: förskräcklig (sv)

very bad

• Bulgarian: отвратителен (bg) (otvratitelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: rædselsfuld
• Dutch: weerzinwekkend (nl), afgrijselijk (nl), verschrikkelijk (nl)
• Finnish: kauhistuttava (fi), hirvittävä (fi), hirveä (fi)
• French: atroce (fr)
• Hungarian: csapnivaló (hu)
• Italian: atroce (it)
• Macedonian: о́двратен (ódvraten)
• Polish: ohydny (pl) m, okropny (pl)
• Portuguese: abominável (pt), asqueroso (pt)
• Romanian: atroce (ro)
• Russian: отврати́тельный (ru) (otvratítelʹnyj), омерзи́тельный (ru) (omerzítelʹnyj), гну́сный (ru) (gnúsnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: grozan (sh) m
• Slovak: hrozný m, katastrofálny m, tragický m, príšerný (sk) m, desný m, zúfalý m, otrasný m
• Spanish: atroz (es)
• Swedish: förhatlig (sv), avskyvärd (sv), ohygglig (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} atroç (ca)