Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Language: Latin
Origin: atrox 'sad, cruel', from ater 'black' + -ox 'looking, appearing'

atrocious

 adjective
     
a‧tro‧cious
extremely bad [= awful]:
atrocious weather
Her singing was atrocious.
—atrociously adverb
WORD FOCUS: bad WORD FOCUS: bad
very bad: awful, terrible, horrible, lousy informal, appalling, ghastly, atrocious, horrendous
bad, but not very bad: not very good, mediocre, second-rate, so-so, lacklustre
of bad quality: shoddy, inferior, poor quality, cheap, crummy informal
bad at doing something: be no good at something
very bad at doing something: hopeless, terrible, useless, lousy informal, incompetent
morally bad: evil, wicked, immoral, corrupt, sick, perverted, degenerate

➔ See also bad
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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