brutal
Americanadjective
-
savage; cruel; inhuman.
a brutal attack on the village.
- Antonyms:
- kind
-
crude; coarse.
brutal language.
-
harsh; ferocious.
brutal criticism; brutal weather.
-
taxing, demanding, or exhausting.
They're having a brutal time making ends meet.
-
irrational; unreasoning.
-
of or relating to lower animals.
- Antonyms:
- human
adjective
-
cruel; vicious; savage
-
extremely honest or coarse in speech or manner
-
harsh; severe; extreme
brutal cold
Related Words
See cruel.
Other Word Forms
- brutality noun
- brutally adverb
- hyperbrutal adjective
- hyperbrutally adverb
- nonbrutal adjective
- nonbrutally adverb
- overbrutal adjective
- overbrutally adverb
Etymology
Origin of brutal
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin brūtālis; equivalent to brute 1 + -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Few, though, were as brutal as the horror show Matthew Potts suffered in Sydney.
From BBC
Most of that drop came in a brutal five-day stretch ended March 24.
From Barron's
“It was brutal. That fly is going to kill me. I need to get to the pool more often.”
From Literature
Without a more robust multilateralism, we risk replacing an imperfect system of collective security with the brutal reality of widespread insecurity.
Kraft Heinz remains the classic example: a 2015 merger of two industry stalwarts followed by brutal cost cuts that hollowed out its own brands.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
