atrocity
UK/əˈtɹɒsɪti//əˈtɹɑsɪti/
atrocity noun: an extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
Noun
atrocity (countable and uncountable, plural atrocities)
- An extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
- to carry out / commit / perpetrate an atrocity
- The regime is guilty of mass atrocities including forced displacement and the use of chemical weapons.
- The quality or state of being atrocious; enormous wickedness; extreme criminality or cruelty.
- 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,1553, John Bradford, letter, in Miles Coverdale (ed.), Certain Most Godly, Fruitful, and Comfortable letters, London: John Day, 1564, pp. 481-482
- 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...1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, London: A. Millar, Part 1, Section 3, Chapter 4, p. 81
- Synonyms:
- atrociousness, brutality, heinousness, enormity
- An object considered to be extremely unattractive or undesirable.
- [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
- 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
- Synonyms:
- abomination
atrocity meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
atrocity in Hindi
- extremely cruel act
- क्रूरता krūrtā, नृशंसता nŕśanstā, निर्दयता nirdaytā, अत्याचार atyācār
atrocity in Tamil
- extremely cruel act
- அட்டூழியம் aṭṭūḻiyam
atrocity in Marathi
- atrocity, torment, misdeed inflicted on someone
- अत्याचार atyācār
atrocity in Urdu
- atrocity, excess, misdeed inflicted on someone
- اتیا چار atyā cār
- atrocity, cruelty, brutality
- آفت āfat
More languagesFewer languages
- atrocity in Bengali
- অত্যন্ত নৃশংস, জঘন্য কাজ
- atrocity in Telugu
- ఘోరం ghōraṁ
- atrocity in Malayalam
- ഘോരത, നിഷ്ഠുരത, പാപകരമായ പ്രവൃത്തി, പൈശാചികകൃത്യം
- atrocity in Kannada
- ಅಮಾನವೀಯ ಕೃತ್ಯ, ಪಾಶವಿಕ ಕೃತ್ಯ, ಘೋರಕೃತ್ಯ
- atrocity in Punjabi
- ਅੱਤਿਆਚਾਰ attiācār, ਜ਼ੁਲਮ zulm
- atrocity in Tagalog
- gawaing may sukdulang pagpapahirap
- atrocity in Arabic
- بِشَاعَة bišāʕa, قَسْوَة qaswa
- atrocity in Persian
- سبعیت sabo'iyat, وحشیگری vahšigari
- atrocity in Vietnamese
- sự tàn ác, sự tàn bạo
Examples of atrocity in a sentence
- […] 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:
- 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...
- “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:
- 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:
Synonyms of atrocity
- depravity
- outrage
- turpitude
- atrociousness
- brutality
- heinousness
- enormity
- abomination
- infamy
- iniquity
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of atrocity
| plural | atrocities |
|---|
Origin of atrocity
From Middle French atrocité, from Latin atrōcitās, from atrōx (“terrible, cruel”) + -tās, from āter (“matte black”).
Words formed from atrocity
Words that rhyme with atrocity
Questions about atrocity
- What does atrocity mean?
- Atrocity means an extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
- What is atrocity in Hindi?
- Atrocity in Hindi is क्रूरता (krūrtā), नृशंसता (nŕśanstā), निर्दयता (nirdaytā). See Atrocity meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use atrocity in a sentence?
- […] it seemed an atrocity or cruelty to Narses a good General, to take punishment of innoxious Hostages:
- What part of speech is atrocity?
- Atrocity is a noun.
- How do you pronounce atrocity?
- Atrocity is pronounced /əˈtɹɒsɪti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of atrocity?
- The plural of atrocity is atrocities.
Words near atrocity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: atrocity (page history and authors); अत्याचार (Marathi) (page history and authors); آفت (Urdu) (page history and authors); atrocity (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); atrocity (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); atrocity (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਅੱਤਿਆਚਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-atrocity.ogg.
Cite this entry: “atrocity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/atrocity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.