1. Extremely heinous; full of enormous wickedness; as, atrocious quilt or deeds.
2. Characterized by, or expressing, great atrocity.
Revelations . . . so atrocious that nothing in history approaches them.
De Quincey.
3. Very grievous or violent; terrible; as, atrocious distempers. [Obs.] Cheyne.
Syn. — Atrocious, Flagitious, Flagrant. Flagitious points to an act as grossly wicked and vile; as, a
flagitious proposal. Flagrant marks the vivid impression made upon the mind by something strikingly
wrong or erroneous; as, a flagrant misrepresentation; a flagrant violation of duty. Atrocious represents
the act as springing from a violent and savage spirit. If Lord Chatham, instead of saying "the atrocious
crime of being a young man," had used either of the other two words, his irony would have lost all its
point, in his celebrated reply to Sir Robert Walpole, as reported by Dr. Johnson.
— A*tro"cious*ly, adv. — A*tro"cious*ness, n.
Atrocity
(A*troc"i*ty) n.; pl. Atrocities [F. atrocité, L. atrocitas, fr. atrox, atrocis, cruel.]
1. Enormous wickedness; extreme heinousness or cruelty.
2. An atrocious or extremely cruel deed.
The atrocities which attend a victory.
Macaulay.
Atrophic
(A*troph"ic), a. Relating to atrophy.
Atrophied
(At"ro*phied) p. a. Affected with atrophy, as a tissue or organ; arrested in development at a
very early stage; rudimentary.
Atrophy
(At"ro*phy) n. [L. atrophia, Gr. 'a priv. + to nourish: cf. F. atrophie.] A wasting away from
want of nourishment; diminution in bulk or slow emaciation of the body or of any part. Milton.
Atrophy
(At"ro*phy), v. t. [p. p. Atrophied ] To cause to waste away or become abortive; to starve or
weaken.
Atrophy
(At"ro*phy), v. i. To waste away; to dwindle.
Atropia
(A*tro"pi*a) n. Same as Atropine.
Atropine
(At"ro*pine) n. [Gr. inflexible; hence one of the three Parcæ; 'a priv. + to turn.] (Chem.) A poisonous,
white, crystallizable alkaloid, extracted from the Atropa belladonna, or deadly nightshade, and the Datura
Stramonium, or thorn apple. It is remarkable for its power in dilating the pupil of the eye. Called also
daturine.
Atropism
(At"ro*pism) n. (Med.) A condition of the system produced by long use of belladonna.
Atropous
(At"ro*pous) a. [Gr. 'a priv. + to turn.] (Bot.) Not inverted; orthotropous.
Atrous
(A"trous) a. [L. ater.] Coal-black; very black.
Atrypa
(||A*try"pa) n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'a priv. + a hole.] (Paleon.) A extinct genus of Branchiopoda, very
common in Silurian limestones.
Attabal
(At"ta*bal) n. See Atabal.
