atrocity

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

• From Latin atrox (“terrible, cruel”), from āter (“matte black”)

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə-trŏs'ĭ-tē

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

atrocity (countable and uncountable; plural atrocities)

1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being atrocious; enormous wickedness; extreme criminality or cruelty.
2. (countable) An extremely cruel act; a horrid act of injustice.
   • 1943, Declaration of the Four Nations on General Security:

     The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union have received from many quarters evidence of atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by Hitlerite forces in many of the countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled.

Related terms

• atrocious

Translations

extremely cruel act

• Arabic: بشاعة (ar) (bišāʿa) f
• Armenian: դաժանություն (hy) (dažanut'yun), գազանություն (hy) (gazanut'yun)
• Asturian: atrocidá (ast) f
• Basque: ankerkeria (eu), basatikeria (eu)
• Bulgarian: зверство (bg) (zverstvo) n, жестокост (bg) (žestokost)
• Catalan: atrocitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴行 (cmn) (bàoxíng)

• Czech: zvěrstvo (cs) n
• Danish: grusomhed (da) c
• Dutch: wreedheid (nl) f
• Finnish: julmuus (fi), hirmuteko (fi)
• French: atrocité (fr) f
• Galician: atrocidade (gl) f
• German: Grausamkeit (de) f
• Greek: θηριωδία (el) (thiriodía) f
• Hebrew: פשע נגד האנושות (he) [pesha neged haenosut] crime against humanity
• Hungarian: atrocitás (hu)
• Italian: atrocità (it) m
• Japanese: 残虐行為 (ja) (ざんぎゃくこうい, zangyaku kōi), 残虐 (ja) (ざんぎゃく, zangyaku), 惨酷 (ja) (ざんこく, zankoku), 残忍 (ja) (ざんにん, zannin)

• Korean: 극악 (ko) (keukak)
• Latin: atrocitas (la) f
• Lithuanian: žvėriškumas (lt) m
• Norwegian: grusomhet (no) c
• Polish: okrucieństwo (pl)
• Portuguese: atrocidade (pt) f
• Romanian: atrocitate (ro) f
• Russian: злодеяние (ru) (zlodejánije) n, зверство (ru) (zvérstvo) n, жестокость (ru) (žestókostʹ) f (cruelty)
• Sardinian:

  Logudorese Sardinian: atrotzidade

• Sassarese Sardinian: atrotzidai
• Scottish Gaelic: buirbe (gd) f, aingidheachd (gd) f, uabhas (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: svirepost (sh) f
• Slovak: krutosť (sk), ukrutnosť (sk), brutalita (sk) f
• Spanish: atrocidad (es) f
• Swedish: grymhet (sv), skändlighet (sv)
• Tagalog: gawaing may sukdulang pagpapahirap (tl)
• Telugu: ఘోరం (te) (ghOram)

See also

• heinousness
• criminality
• brutality

External links

• atrocity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• atrocity in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• atrocity at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• citatory