different between atrocious vs atrociousness

English

Etymology

From Latin atr?x (“cruel, fierce, frightful”) +? -ious.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?-tr??-sh?s
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??t?????s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??t?o???s/
• Rhymes: -????s
• Hyphenation: a?tro?cious

Adjective

atrocious (comparative more atrocious, superlative most atrocious)

1. Frightful, evil, cruel, or monstrous.

2. Offensive or heinous.
3. Very bad; abominable, disgusting.

Derived terms

• atrociously
• atrociousness
• vomitrocious

Related terms

• atrocity

Translations

English

Etymology

atrocious +? -ness

Noun

atrociousness (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being atrocious.

   Synonym: atrocity

   • 1689, Francis Grant, Lord Cullen, The Loyalists Reasons for His Giving Obedience, and Swearing Allegiance, to the Present Government, Edinburgh: J. Reid, pp. 34-35,^[1]

     If there be joyned to [injustice] an other vice […] , if it be frequent and habitual, in a Person of perfect Age, all these Aggravations augment its Atrociousness.

   • 1830, Theodore Dwight Weld, The Bible against Slavery, New York, p. 12,^[2]

     The atrociousness of a crime, depends greatly upon the nature, character, and condition of the victim. […] To steal bread from a full man, is theft; to steal it from a starving man, is both theft and murder.

   • 1958, T. H. White, The Once and Future King, New York: Putnam, Book 2, Chapter 12, p. 309,^[3]

     […] as the day dawned, the atrociousness of his conduct became apparent.