1
as in horrific
extremely disturbing or repellent
an atrocious crime that shocked even hardened members of the police force
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in horrible
extremely unsatisfactory
the picture quality on the pirated DVD was atrocious
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in brutal
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
the atrocious treatment of prisoners at the camps
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of atrocious
So much so that the Athletic doesn’t even bother with them and their overall coverage is atrocious.
—
Adam Crafton, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Defensively, LaVine has been pretty good this year on the ball despite Chicago's overall defense being atrocious.
—Sam Vecenie, The Athletic, 23 Jan. 2025
Of course, there will always be times when a company catches you by surprise and lists your name along with other underperforming employees in a cop-out to cover their atrocious layoffs.
—Rachel Wells, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
The pricing for a Pro account is, frankly, atrocious.
—PC Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for atrocious
Adam Crafton, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
Defensively, LaVine has been pretty good this year on the ball despite Chicago's overall defense being atrocious.
—Sam Vecenie, The Athletic, 23 Jan. 2025
Of course, there will always be times when a company catches you by surprise and lists your name along with other underperforming employees in a cop-out to cover their atrocious layoffs.
—Rachel Wells, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
The pricing for a Pro account is, frankly, atrocious.
—PC Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for atrocious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for atrocious
Adjective
-
The war has carried a horrific toll for Gazans, with many dead amid the fighting and whole neighborhoods razed to the ground.—
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 May 2025
-
Instead of just ending on that horrific moment, the show then cuts to Abby several days earlier.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
Adjective
-
There’s no doubt that Lewis, abandoned as a baby by his parents, has done some horrible stuff.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
26 May 2025
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Given the horrible economic incentives that government regulation has created, the surprise is not that some patients experience mistreatment.—
John C. Goodman,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Lori survives the brutal events of prom night, but not without a fight.—
Jane LaCroix,
People.com,
24 May 2025
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Would a Venezuelan contestant who rolled off her log need to use her airline miles when forcibly flown to the waiting arms of Maduro’s brutal regime?—
Pat Beall,
Sun Sentinel,
23 May 2025
Adjective
-
Larvae of the parasitic fly chew through flesh, transforming small nicks into big, gruesome wounds.—
Sarah Zhang,
The Atlantic,
27 May 2025
-
The gruesome recovery comes in the wake of a gruesome February incident, when a body was found inside a suitcase floating in the East River.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
27 May 2025
Adjective
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Kids these days have attention spans crushed under the terrible weight of TikTok and Instgram.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
3 June 2025
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My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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The reason Evin is infamous is because of its terribly cruel high security detention centers that are poorly supervised by the Prison Chief.—
Jeff Kaufman,
Time,
30 May 2025
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But then perhaps that is her unsatisfying but depressingly undeniable point: there is no challenging minds this small, behaviors this cruel, spirits this mean.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
30 May 2025
Adjective
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Continuing a recent pattern of face-to-furniture collisions on the talk show, the 69-year-old's head made a momentous journey plummeting toward the program's storied table at the top of Tuesday's live broadcast, after panelist Joy Behar made a shocking joke about Sean Combs.—
Joey Nolfi Published,
EW.com,
3 June 2025
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Sunday’s result was shocking because DeRias had been so good as a freshman this season, entering this game with a 3.98 ERA.—
Walter Villa,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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Over the 18 games following a 21-run eruption against the historically awful Colorado Rockies, the Padres ranked last in the majors in OPS and third-to-last in runs per game.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
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The timing isn’t awful for SDFC, which doesn’t play its next league game until June 14 and expected Lozano to be absent possibly into early July on national-team duty.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Atrocious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/atrocious. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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