Atrocious means shockingly bad or terrible. When something is atrocious, it's awful in a way that makes people recoil or feel disgusted. An atrocious smell might make you plug your nose and leave the room immediately. An atrocious movie might be so poorly made that the audience walks out before it ends.

The word carries a sense of genuine horror or disgust. You might call your little brother's singing voice “bad,” but if it's truly atrocious, it's painful to listen to. A meal might taste unpleasant, but an atrocious meal would be nearly inedible. The weather isn't just rainy: it's atrocious when violent storms make travel dangerous.

Atrocious can also describe cruel or evil actions. History books describe atrocious crimes committed during wars, acts so brutal they shock the conscience. In this sense, atrocious means horrifyingly cruel or wicked, behavior that goes far beyond ordinary wrongdoing.

When you hear someone call something atrocious, they're using one of the strongest words available to express just how bad it really is. It's the difference between saying a decision was “a mistake” and saying it was “an atrocious choice that harmed everyone involved.”