What does atrocious mean?
Word: Atrocious
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Atrocious means very bad or unpleasant; in its stronger sense, extremely cruel and shocking.
Synonyms: terrible, dreadful, awful, appalling
Antonyms: excellent, wonderful, pleasant
Word origin: From Latin, from a word meaning 'fierce' or 'cruel'.
How do you spell atrocious?
Syllables: a - tro - cious
Tricky part: The 'shus' sound at the end is spelt -cious, so atrotious and atrosious are wrong.
Watch out for: atrotious, atrosious, atroshus
Memory tip: Think of a delicious meal that turns out atrocious: both words end in -cious.
Atrocious in a sentence
Example 1: The road to the village was in atrocious condition after the floods, full of deep potholes.
Example 2: Kunal admitted his handwriting was atrocious and started practising every evening.
Example 3: The smell from the blocked drain was atrocious, so we kept the windows shut.
Fun Fact
At first atrocious described only very cruel acts; from the 19th century people also began using it for everyday things that are simply very bad.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the misspelt word/s in the given sentence:
The rain on the day of the school fair was attrocious, but every stall stayed open until evening.
a) only stall
b) fair and evening
c) attrocious and stall
d) only attrocious
Show answer
d) only attrocious. Atrocious has a single t after the first a.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
The traffic on the highway was atrocious, and we reached the weding venu two hours late.
a) 1
b) 3
c) 2
d) 0
Show answer
c) 2. Wedding doubles its d and venue ends in -ue; atrocious is spelt correctly.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with the correct options:
1. atrocious 2. timid 3. hasty a. bold b. splendid c. unhurried
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
b) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c. Each word meets its opposite: atrocious and splendid, timid and bold, hasty and unhurried.
Jumble Tumble
What is the meaning of the word that can be formed from the given letters?
uioaostcr
a) lively and full of fun
b) slightly damp and cold
c) shockingly poor in quality
d) easy to see through
Show answer
c) shockingly poor in quality. These nine letters rebuild atrocious, a strong word for very bad.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If the weather is atrocious, it is probably ___.
a) clear and calm
b) stormy and freezing
c) warm and sunny
d) mild and pleasant
Show answer
b) stormy and freezing
2. Which review would call a film atrocious?
a) The songs were catchy and the jokes landed.
b) It was a little long but well worth watching.
c) The acting was wooden and the plot made no sense.
d) Every scene was gripping and beautifully shot.
Show answer
c) The acting was wooden and the plot made no sense.
