… much of the manufactured-home industry employed sales practices that were atrocious. The need for meaningful down payments was frequently ignored. Sometimes fakery was involved. Moreover, impossible-to-meet monthly payments were being agreed to by borrowers who signed up because they had nothing to lose. Warren E. Buffett, Newsweek, 9 Mar. 2009In the hands of a succession of more or less sadistic colonial governors and prison officers, convicts, particularly repeat offenders, found themselves subjected to atrocious punishments, flogged, committed to chain gangs, kept in underground pits, starved, and bullied. Caroline Moorehead, New York Review of Books, 16 Nov. 2006It would seem that by now the Tigers might be weary of analyzing their roller-coaster season, sick of reliving their atrocious 9-23 start and comparing it with their recent hot streak.Sports Illustrated, 4 Sept. 2000 an atrocious period in the nation's history an atrocious crime that shocked even hardened members of the police force
Recent Examples on the WebThe Celtics couldn’t have asked for a better end to the half after an otherwise atrocious 20 or so minutes of basketball. Nicole Yang, BostonGlobe.com, 21 May 2022 Perhaps someone with an atrocious opinion in one case may have something valuable to share in another. Michael Polk, Rolling Stone, 11 May 2022 Wisely, instead of some atrocious add-on backup camera from Amazon, the seller replaced the driver's-side door strut. Clifford Atiyeh, Car and Driver, 19 Apr. 2022 Miami really turned on the heat right in its very first game of this postseason, shooting 52.4 percent from the field, while holding Atlanta to an atrocious 38.7 percent shooting. Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 18 Apr. 2022 The gap between the annual income of Black families versus non-Black families is atrocious. Scarlett Newman, Harper's BAZAAR, 13 June 2022 However, paying nearly $80 million for four acres of land is atrocious. Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 May 2022 The Dallas Cowboys will always be a thing—whether good, not good, mediocre, atrocious, brilliant, exasperating, or ordinary. Jason Gay, WSJ, 18 Oct. 2021 The Kings’ special teams have been atrocious, for example, with seven of Edmonton’s 21 goals in the series coming on power plays. Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Latin atroc-, atrox gloomy, atrocious, from atr-, ater black + -oc-, -ox (akin to Greek ōps eye) — more at eye