atrocious

adjective

atro·cious | \ ə-ˈtrō-shəs

Definition of atrocious

1 : extremely wicked, brutal, or cruel : barbaric prisoners subjected to atrocious treatment

2 : appalling, horrifying the atrocious weapons of modern war an atrocious accident

3a : utterly revolting : abominable atrocious working conditions atrocious weather

b : of very poor quality atrocious handwriting

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Examples of atrocious in a Sentence

… much of the manufactured-home industry employed sales practices that were atrocious. The need for meaningful down payments was frequently ignored. Sometimes fakery was involved. Moreover, impossible-to-meet monthly payments were being agreed to by borrowers who signed up because they had nothing to lose. — Warren E. Buffett, Newsweek, 9 Mar. 2009 In the hands of a succession of more or less sadistic colonial governors and prison officers, convicts, particularly repeat offenders, found themselves subjected to atrocious punishments, flogged, committed to chain gangs, kept in underground pits, starved, and bullied. — Caroline Moorehead, New York Review of Books, 16 Nov. 2006 It would seem that by now the Tigers might be weary of analyzing their roller-coaster season, sick of reliving their atrocious 9-23 start and comparing it with their recent hot streak. — Sports Illustrated, 4 Sept. 2000 an atrocious period in the nation's history an atrocious crime that shocked even hardened members of the police force

Recent Examples on the Web

The movie’s pagan-commune plot is clearly derivative of the horror classic The Wicker Man — the brilliant 1973 version, not the atrocious Nicolas Cage remake. — Ross Douthat, National Review, "Midsommar Casts a Transfixing Scandinavian Spell," 25 July 2019 American culture didn’t require Japanese internment to be as atrocious as Nazism to ultimately condemn its own treatment of the Japanese. — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, "The “concentration camp” language debate is the wrong fight," 13 July 2019 The idea that continued U.S. support for the atrocious Saudi bombing campaign will help prevent suffering of the Yemeni people is laughable. — WSJ, "The Saudis Are the Cause of Trouble in Yemen," 7 July 2019 The whirlwind season came to a sudden end in the Divisional Round playoff loss at Los Angeles, on a night where Dallas’s run defense was atrocious. — Andy Benoit, SI.com, "Leighton Vander Esch’s Parents Reflect on Their Son’s Star Rookie Season," 24 July 2019 As a result, more people showed up closer to showtime, and the traffic on a mile-long stretch of Highway 120 and the mile of County Road D leading into Alpine’s lots was atrocious. — Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Heat wave and storms pass before Jimmy Buffett's joyous return to Alpine Valley Music Theatre," 21 July 2019 Make no bones about it, Arsenal were atrocious at the back last season. — SI.com, "Kieran Tierney: 5 Reasons Why Arsenal Should Up Their Bid & Bring the Scot to North London," 23 June 2019 But a look at the scientific data behind the story finds that such a splashy takeaway is tenuous at best—and atrocious reporting at worst. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Debunked: The absurd story about smartphones causing kids to sprout horns," 21 June 2019 That was atrocious, and the media reported it as such. — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, "Jim Acosta Describes Why He Attacks Trump," 21 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'atrocious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.