Definition of Brutal

1. Adjective. (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering. "Vicious kicks"


2. Adjective. Harsh. "A brutal winter"
Exact synonyms: Unrelenting
Similar to: Intense

3. Adjective. Resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility. "Bestial treatment of prisoners"
Exact synonyms: Beastly, Bestial, Brute, Brutish
Similar to: Inhumane
Derivative terms: Beast, Beastliness, Beast, Bestiality, Bestialize, Brutalize, Brutalize

4. Adjective. Disagreeably direct and precise. "He spoke with brutal honesty"
Similar to: Direct

Definition of Brutal

1. a. Of or pertaining to a brute; as, brutal nature.

Definition of Brutal

1. Adjective. Savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel ¹

2. Adjective. Crude or unfeeling in manner or speech. ¹

3. Adjective. Harsh; unrelenting ¹

4. Adjective. Disagreeably precise or penetrating ¹

5. Adjective. (music figuratively) In extreme metal, to describe the speed of the music and the density of riffs. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Brutal

1. cruel; savage [adj] : BRUTALLY [adv]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Brutal

brusquer
brusquerie
brusqueries
brusquest
brussel sprout
brussels
brussels sprout
brussels sprouts
brust
brusting
brustle
brustles
brusts
brut
bruta
brutal (current term)
brutalisation
brutalisations
brutalise
brutalised
brutalises
brutalising
brutalisms
brutalitarian
brutalitarians
brutalities
brutality
brutalization
brutalizations
brutalize

Literary usage of Brutal

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle (1891)
"For instance [taking (3) first], there are the brutal 2 characters, such as the creature in woman's shape that is said to rip up pregnant females and devour ..."

2. The Police Power, Public Policy and Constitutional Rights by Ernst Freund (1904)
"brutal sports and entertainments, and cruelty to animals, ... brutal sports and entertainments.—The principal station is against prize fights. ..."

3. Report by Great Britain (1850)
"All the gentlemen of this district who remember what it was brutal several years ago are agreed as to the good consequences of the sP°rts< Act which enabled ..."

4. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass (1855)
"I expected to see him boil over with rage at the revolting deed, and to hear him fill the air with curses upon the brutal Plummer; luit I was disappointed. ..."

5. The Police Power, Public Policy and Constitutional Rights by Ernst Freund (1904)
"brutal sports and entertainments, and cruelty to animals, ... brutal sports and entertainments.—The principal legislation is against prize fights. ..."

6. The Life of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini, John Addington Symonds (1889)
"... licentious, almost brutal; determined to some extent by an artist's feeling for beauty, but controlled by no moral sense and elevated by no spiritual ..."

7. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1886)
"... a Welsh translation having appeared in 1797 ; and ' A Serious and Affectionate Warning to Servants,' occasioned by the brutal murder of a mistress bv ..."

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