Hypertext Webster Gateway: "atrocious"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Atrocious \A*tro"cious\, a. [L. atrox, atrocis, cruel, fierce:
cf. F. atroce.]
1. Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness; as,
atrocious quilt or deeds.
2. Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity.
Revelations . . . so atrocious that nothing in
history approaches them. --De Quincey.
3. Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious
distempers. [Obs.] --Cheyne.
Syn: {Atrocious}, {Flagitious}, {Flagrant}.
Usage: 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. --
{A*tro"cious*ly}, adv. -- {A*tro"cious*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
atrocious
adj 1: shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime";
"a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous
crime"; "no excess was too monstrous for them to
commit" [syn: {flagitious}, {grievous}, {heinous}, {monstrous}]
2: exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste";
"abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful
manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting";
"an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" [syn: {abominable},
{awful}, {dreadful}, {painful}, {terrible}, {unspeakable}]
3: provoking horror; "an atrocious automobile accident"; "a
frightful crime of decapitation"; "an alarming, even
horrifying, picture"; "war is beyond all words horrible"-
Winston Churchill; "an ugly wound" [syn: {frightful}, {horrifying},
{horrible}, {ugly}]
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