atrocity

[ uh-tros-i-tee ]

/ əˈtrɒs ɪ ti /

the quality or state of being atrocious.

an atrocious act, thing, or circumstance.

Origin of atrocity

1525–35; < Latin atrōcitās, equivalent to atrōci- (stem of atrōx) fierce + -tās -ty²

Many prominent Congolese human-rights activists consider minerals to be at the heart of the perpetration of atrocities.

Aaron Rodgers Takes Aim at Congo’s ‘Blood Minerals’ War |John Prendergast |December 3, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
They appear to see not atrocities but adventure, not gore but glory.

How ISIS’s Colorado Girls Were Caught |Michael Daly |October 22, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The world still does not know the extent of the atrocities committed in Sinjar.

Obama Went to War to Save Them, But They Can’t Get U.S. Visas |Christine van den Toorn, Sherizaan Minwalla |September 28, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
We are going to defend the Syrian people both from the atrocities of the Assad regime and from the atrocities of ISIS.

Syrian Rebels: We’ll Use U.S. Weapons to Fight Assad, Whether Obama Likes It or Not |Josh Rogin |September 12, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Atrocities of a quite grizzly sort were part and parcel of many of his “engagements.”

Mike Leach Tackles Geronimo the Motivational Murderer |James A. Warren |August 17, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It is often difficult to find any motive for their atrocities.

Ferdinand De Soto, The Discoverer of the Mississippi |John S. C. Abbott
Madame de Maintenon became greatly troubled by these atrocities, against which she did not dare to remonstrate.

Louis XIV., Makers of History Series |John S. C. Abbott
Many of the atrocities which were committed in it are now widely known through the histories of those times of blood.

Paris: With Pen and Pencil |David W. Bartlett
Indeed the atrocities which these men perpetrated were the main cause of the hostility of the savages.

Christopher Carson |John S. C. Abbott
In the popular drama of Punch, we observe a perfect climax of atrocities and horrors.

The Comic English Grammar |Unknown

atrocity

/ (əˈtrɒsɪtɪ) /

behaviour or an action that is wicked or ruthless

the fact or quality of being atrocious

(usually plural) acts of extreme cruelty, esp against prisoners or civilians in wartime