Skip to content

atroce

atrocious

adjective ah-TROS Less Common
Descriptions & Qualities Quality

Also means

dreadful

Usage Note

Atroce is invariable for gender — the same form is used for masculine and feminine nouns. In informal speech it often functions as a hyperbolic intensifier ('this coffee is atrocious'), similar to 'terrible' in colloquial English, softening its literal meaning of extreme cruelty.

Examples

"La chaleur était atroce pendant l'été."

Natural Translation

The heat was atrocious during the summer.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic