1
as in cruelty
disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others
the police were accused of brutality for using excessive force in making arrests
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in brutishness
the manifestation of the traits or the gratification of the appetites of a lower animal
the disconcerting ease with which the people adopted the brutality of the enemy invaders
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of brutality
And the brand is brutality, the brand is war crimes.
—
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026
The lawsuit marks at least the third time Remick has been named in police brutality lawsuits in recent years.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2026
King came to Birmingham that spring to use the city’s own brutality against it.
—John Archibald, Southern Living, 16 Mar. 2026
Crump is known for representing relatives of victims of high-profile police brutality cases.
—Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026
The lawsuit marks at least the third time Remick has been named in police brutality lawsuits in recent years.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2026
King came to Birmingham that spring to use the city’s own brutality against it.
—John Archibald, Southern Living, 16 Mar. 2026
Crump is known for representing relatives of victims of high-profile police brutality cases.
—Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutality
Noun
-
Federal authorities allege in an indictment that the images portrayed of dogs raised and offered for sale at the Giant German Shepherd Ranch in Hopkins County were a disguise for a place where, instead, cruelty and neglect were rampant.—
J.D. Miles,
CBS News,
24 Mar. 2026
-
In July, 2014, at the height of negotiations between the Islamic Republic and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, my wife and I were arrested and thrown into Evin Prison, a notorious facility known throughout Iran for its cruelty.—
Jason Rezaian,
New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Generations of agents, therefore, have had to walk a line between bookishness and brutishness.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
-
But the brutishness has merely relocated, to places far more dangerous.—
Ian Buruma,
New Yorker,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Many of these songs have unfortunately become more relevant today, with the atrocities committed against innocent civilians in conflicts around the world, to the extrajudicial killing of Americans at home.—
Christina Hioureas,
Rolling Stone,
22 Mar. 2026
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But this out-of-time music comes to us when the natural world is deteriorating and the ever-present internet is a tool of mass surveillance and a lens to witness multiple global atrocities at once.—
Vrinda Jagota,
Pitchfork,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Hope is something that Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri can related to, having explored the dualities of hope and despair (as well as lightness and darkness, and fluidity and animalism) in her spring 2023 collection.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
WWD,
22 Jan. 2025
-
All of a sudden, that animalism has been incarnated.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2024
Noun
-
In other words, humans can act against the animal component of their nature and manifest their humanity by rejecting their animality.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Nov. 2025
-
This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutality. Accessed 26 Mar. 2026.
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