Dictionary

atrocity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /əˈtɹɑsɪti/ (General-American)
• /əˈtɹɒsɪti/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• ə-trŏs'ĭ-tē

Etymology

From Middle French atrocité, from Latin atrōcitās, from atrōx (“terrible, cruel”) + -tās, from āter (“matte black”).

Meanings

1. (countable) An extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
   • This devilish outrage, this fiendish murder, produced, as it was well calculated to do, a tremendous sensation. […] The atrocity roused my old master, and he spoke out, in reprobation of it; 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 8, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 123:
   • “Any delay in arresting the assassin,” I observed, “might give him time to perpetrate some fresh atrocity.” 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 7, in A Study in Scarlet, New York and London: Street & Smith, page 87:
   • to carry out / commit / perpetrate an atrocity
   • The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union have received from many quarters evidence of atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by Hitlerite forces in many of the countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled. 1943, Declaration of the Four Nations on General Security:
   • The regime is guilty of mass atrocities including forced displacement and the use of chemical weapons.
   • […] it seemed an atrocity or cruelty to Narses a good General, to take punishment of innoxious Hostages: 1662, William Pynchon, The Covenant of Nature Made with Adam, London, Chapter 11, Section 3, p. 277:
   • It was impossible for the convention to suffer the crimes they had committed, and the still greater atrocities which they had meditated, to pass unnoticed. 1795, Helen Maria Williams, Letters Containing a Sketch of the Politics of France, London: G. G. and J. Robinson, Letter 4, p. 61:
2. (uncountable) The quality or state of being atrocious; enormous wickedness; extreme criminality or cruelty.
   • Hernandez […] had been an inoffensive, small ranchero, kidnapped with circumstances of peculiar atrocity from his home during one of the civil wars, and forced to serve in the army. 1904, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo, New York: Harper, Part 1, Chapter 8, p. 119:
   • an apology devised after the commission of the deed, to cover up its atrocity 1843, William H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, New York: Harper, Volume 2, Book 4, Chapter 8, p. 284:
   • 1553, John Bradford, letter, in Miles Coverdale (ed.), Certain Most Godly, Fruitful, and Comfortable letters, London: John Day, 1564, pp. 481-482, Thys wil I muse on, & way with my self, [tha]t I may dulye knowe, both in me and in al other things, the atrocitie and bitternesse of synne which dwelleth in me, & so may the more hartely geue ouer my self wholy to [th]e lord Christ my Sauiour,
   • Here was one who had spent his life in lying to the world, and who was in his very heart shocked at the atrocity of a man who had lied to him! 1873 May 1 – December 22 (date written), Anthony Trollope, chapter 68, in The Way We Live Now. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published June 1875, →OCLC:
   • What character is so detestable as that of one who takes pleasure to sow dissention among friends, and to turn their most tender love into mortal hatred? Yet wherein does the atrocity of this so much abhorred injury consist? […] It is in depriving them of that friendship itself, in robbing them of each others affections […] 1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, London: A. Millar, Part 1, Section 3, Chapter 4, p. 81:
3. (countable) An object considered to be extremely unattractive or undesirable.
   • The Pools had given them a “hanging lamp,” coveted by the farmer’s wife; a hideous atrocity in yellow, with pink roses on its shade and prisms dangling and tinkling all around the edge. 1924, Edna Ferber, chapter 7, in So Big, New York: Grosset and Dunlap, page 114:
   • [S]ome of the printers were good singers and others good performers on the guitar and on that atrocity the accordeon—[…] 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XLIII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 300:

Forms

Deriveds

atrocity porn

Hypernyms

injustice · misdeed

Hyponyms

crime against humanity · massacre · war crime

Relateds

war crime · crime against humanity · atrocious

Synonyms

brutality · turpitude · heinousness · abomination · iniquity · wickedness · enormity · atrociousness · depravity · outrage · infamy · depravity · atrocity · outrage · wrong · turpitude

Translations (119)

he אַכְזָרִיּוּת (extremely cruel act) · sh svìrepōst (extremely cruel act) · az zalımlıq (extremely cruel act) · el ωμότητα (extremely cruel act) · uk жорсто́кість (extremely cruel act) · ca atrocitat (extremely cruel act) · ta அட்டூழியம் (extremely cruel act) · ky жырткычтык (extremely cruel act) · fa وحشیگری (extremely cruel act) · hu atrocitás (extremely cruel act) · ru жесто́кость (extremely cruel act) · ar قَسْوَة (extremely cruel act) · ga gníomh uafásach (extremely cruel act) · hi क्रूरता (extremely cruel act) · de Abscheulichkeit (extremely cruel act) · sk zverstvo (extremely cruel act) · de Atrozität (extremely cruel act) · pt atrocidade (extremely cruel act) · vi sự tàn ác (extremely cruel act) · uk лиході́йство (extremely cruel act) · cmn 暴行 (extremely cruel act) · fo grimd (extremely cruel act) · la atrocitas (extremely cruel act) · uz zolimlik (extremely cruel act) · ja 残虐行為 (extremely cruel act) · kk мейірімсіздік (extremely cruel act) · ja 残忍 (extremely cruel act) · hy գազանություն (extremely cruel act) · hy դաժանություն (extremely cruel act) · ja 惨酷 (extremely cruel act) · de Brutalität (extremely cruel act) · nb grusomhet (extremely cruel act) · el θηριωδία (extremely cruel act) · cs zvěrstvo (extremely cruel act) · es atrocidad (extremely cruel act) · tl gawaing may sukdulang pagpapahirap (extremely cruel act) · hi नृशंसता (extremely cruel act) · de Barbarei (extremely cruel act) · gl atrocidade (extremely cruel act) · ky ырайымсыздык (extremely cruel act) · eu basatikeria (extremely cruel act) · lv zvērība (extremely cruel act) · sc atrotzidade (extremely cruel act) · ru зве́рство (extremely cruel act) · sl krutost (extremely cruel act) · be жо́рсткасць (extremely cruel act) · te ఘోరం (extremely cruel act) · sh zvjèrstvo (extremely cruel act) · ja 残虐 (extremely cruel act) · nl gruweldaad (extremely cruel act) · sk brutálnosť (extremely cruel act) · gd aingidheachd (extremely cruel act) · vi sự tàn bạo (extremely cruel act) · tg ваҳшоният (extremely cruel act) · tr atrosite (extremely cruel act) · ast atrocidá (extremely cruel act) · kk хайуандық (extremely cruel act) · it atrocità (extremely cruel act) · ja 非道 (extremely cruel act) · sdc atrotzidai (extremely cruel act) · bg зве́рство (extremely cruel act) · sv grymhet (extremely cruel act) · hi निर्दयता (extremely cruel act) · sh свѝрепо̄ст (extremely cruel act) · cs sveřepost (extremely cruel act) · sh кру́то̄ст (extremely cruel act) · pl okrucieństwo (extremely cruel act) · kk айуандық (extremely cruel act) · sk krutosť (extremely cruel act) · et jõhkrus (extremely cruel act) · gd buirbe (extremely cruel act) · fi julmuus (extremely cruel act) · sk ukrutnosť (extremely cruel act) · ko 잔혹 행위 (extremely cruel act) · be ліхадзе́йства (extremely cruel act) · az vəhşilik (extremely cruel act) · et julmus (extremely cruel act) · sk brutalita (extremely cruel act) · be зве́рства (extremely cruel act) · hu rémtett (extremely cruel act) · fa سبعیت (extremely cruel act) · cs brutalita (extremely cruel act) · eu ankerkeria (extremely cruel act) · ar بِشَاعَة (extremely cruel act) · gd uabhas (extremely cruel act) · sh krútōst (extremely cruel act) · cs krutost (extremely cruel act) · fr atrocité (extremely cruel act) · ka სისასტიკე (extremely cruel act) · mk ѕверство (extremely cruel act) · el βαρβαρότητα (extremely cruel act) · sh zvèrstvo (extremely cruel act) · sq mizori (extremely cruel act) · hy վայրագություն (extremely cruel act) · uz vahshiylik (extremely cruel act) · ga ainghníomh (extremely cruel act) · nl wreedheid (extremely cruel act) · mi tūkinotanga (extremely cruel act) · sh звјѐрство (extremely cruel act) · mk жестокост (extremely cruel act) · ro atrocitate (extremely cruel act) · uk зві́рство (extremely cruel act) · sv ohygglighet (extremely cruel act) · uk злодія́ння (extremely cruel act) · ko 극악 (extremely cruel act) · de Grausamkeit (extremely cruel act) · bg жесто́кост (extremely cruel act) · ko 비도 (extremely cruel act) · da grusomhed (extremely cruel act) · sv skändlighet (extremely cruel act) · lt žvėriškumas (extremely cruel act) · fi hirmuteko (extremely cruel act) · sl grozodejstvo (extremely cruel act) · de Gräueltat (extremely cruel act) · cmn 殘酷 /残酷 (extremely cruel act) · sh звѐрство (extremely cruel act) · hi अत्याचार (extremely cruel act) · tg ваҳшигарӣ (extremely cruel act) · ru злодея́ние (extremely cruel act)