atrocity

atrocity — noun

1. a deeply cruel or violent action that shocks people, especially one that harms o

1.nounC1
Definition

a deeply cruel or violent action that shocks people, especially one that harms or kills civilians during a war or conflict.

Example

Soldiers were ordered to investigate atrocities committed against villagers near the border.

atrocities committed against [people]

The journalist spent two years documenting wartime atrocities in three countries.

wartime atrocities

Common collocations
  • commit an atrocity
  • wartime atrocity
  • mass atrocity
  • atrocity against civilians
Synonyms
  • massacre

    specifically the killing of many people; an atrocity may also include torture or rape, not only killing

  • outrage

    broader — any shocking act; less tied to physical violence

  • barbarity

    stresses the cruelty itself rather than a single event

Grammar Patterns

commit an atrocity

atrocity against [people]

Usage Note

Almost always plural in news and historical writing; the singular tends to refer to one specific named event. Subject committing the act is usually a soldier, regime, or armed group, and the victims are unarmed people.

Common Mistakes

The thief committed an atrocity by stealing my bag.
The thief committed a serious crime by stealing my bag.
'atrocity' is reserved for shockingly cruel acts, usually involving violence against people, not ordinary crimes.

2. an object, piece of clothing, or work of design that is so ugly or in such poor

2.nounC1
Definition

an object, piece of clothing, or work of design that is so ugly or in such poor taste that you find it almost offensive to look at — used in a humorous, exaggerated way.

Example

That orange velvet sofa in the living room is an absolute atrocity.

X is an (absolute) atrocity — informal

Zane turned up to the wedding wearing a yellow tie that Priya called a fashion atrocity.

fashion atrocity (informal)

Common collocations
  • fashion atrocity
  • absolute atrocity
  • architectural atrocity
Synonyms
  • eyesore

    specifically about something visually unpleasant in public; less playful than 'atrocity'

  • monstrosity

    very close — an ugly, oversized thing; slightly more about scale

  • horror

    informal exaggeration for something awful, often about clothes or décor

Grammar Patterns

X is an atrocity

Usage Note

Informal and deliberately exaggerated — speakers know nobody is really being harmed. Distinguish from sense 1: when the object is a hat, building, or painting rather than a violent action, this humorous sense is intended.

Common Mistakes

My homework is an atrocity; I got 60 percent.
My homework is a disaster; I got 60 percent.
this informal sense is used about ugly things you can see, not about poor results or performance.

Word family

  • atrocious
    adjectiveC1
  • atrociously
    adverbC2
  • atrociousness
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe shocking acts of cruelty, but they pick out different parts of the picture. 'Atrocity' is the broad headline word in news and history writing, often used in the plural for a pattern of cruelty by soldiers or a regime against civilians. 'Massacre' narrows the focus to the killing itself, and usually requires many victims in one event — you talk about 'the massacre at the village' but 'atrocities across the region'. 'Outrage' is more abstract: it names any act so wrong that it provokes public anger, and can apply to non-violent shocks like a corruption scandal. 'Barbarity' shifts attention from the event to the cruel quality of the people behind it. Compare: 'soldiers committed atrocities' (the acts), 'a massacre took place' (the killing event), 'the bombing was an outrage' (public reaction), 'the barbarity of the regime' (its character).

atrocity ↗massacre ↗outrage ↗barbarity

Common collocations

Nouns

  • war atrocity
  • human rights atrocity
  • fashion atrocity

Phrases

  • commit an atrocity
  • investigate atrocities
  • scale of the atrocity

Prepositions

  • atrocity against
  • atrocity in
  • atrocity of

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the late 1500s from French 'atrocité', which came from Latin 'atrocitas', a noun built on 'atrox' meaning 'fierce, cruel, harsh'. The Latin root combined 'ater' (dark, gloomy) with a form of 'oc-' (look, eye) — literally 'of dark appearance'. The original idea of something with a frightening, threatening look hardened over time into our modern sense of an act so cruel it shocks anyone who hears about it.