Meaning
“Atrocious” is an adjective that describes something extremely bad, unpleasant, or shocking. It can refer to very poor quality, terrible behavior, or something cruel and horrifying.
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: Adjective
- Used to modify nouns: atrocious behavior, atrocious weather, atrocious crime
- Can be intensified with adverbs: absolutely atrocious, truly atrocious
Typical structures:
- something is atrocious
- an atrocious [noun]
Common Phrases
- atrocious crime → a brutal or shocking crime
- atrocious behavior → extremely rude or unacceptable behavior
- atrocious conditions → very bad or unbearable living/working conditions
- atrocious weather → very bad weather (heavy rain, storm, etc.)
Collocations
- Noun + atrocious: atrocious mistake, atrocious performance, atrocious taste
- Verb + atrocious: was, seemed, looked atrocious
- Adverb + atrocious: absolutely atrocious, really atrocious, utterly atrocious
Examples
- The prisoners were kept in atrocious conditions.
- That restaurant served atrocious food—I’ll never go back there.
- His handwriting is atrocious; I can barely read it.
- The dictator committed atrocious crimes against humanity.
- The weather was atrocious, with strong winds and heavy rain.
- Their customer service was absolutely atrocious.
- She apologized for her atrocious behavior at the party.
- The team’s performance last night was simply atrocious.
Synonyms or Related
- Synonyms: terrible, dreadful, appalling, horrendous, abominable, awful, ghastly
- Related: shocking, cruel, inhumane, unbearable