GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found one definition

1.       
   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.
   De Quincey.
   
   1913 Webster
   Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious distempers. [Obs.]
   Cheyne.
   
   1913 Webster
   Syn. -- 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.
   1913 Webster
    -- A*tro"cious*ly, adv. -- A*tro"cious*ness, n.
   1913 Webster