Standard Lemma guide

atrociousness

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The state or quality of being atrocious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 1689, Francis Grant, Lord Cullen, The Loyalists Reasons for His Giving Obedience, and Swearing Allegiance, to the Present Government, Edinburgh: J. Reid, pp. 34-35, If there be joyned to [injustice] an other vice [...] , if it be frequent and habitual, in a Person of perfect Age, all these Aggravations augment its Atrociousness.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: atrocity

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: atrocity, barbarity, barbarousness, heinousness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inhumaneness, inhumanity

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English atrocious Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English atrociousness From atrocious + -ness.