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
Griffin-Gracy spent more five decades advocating for Black trans women, gender-nonconforming people, trans women who survived incarceration and police brutality, and the AIDS crisis, the post read.
—
Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025
Gabber’s got this naive brutality to it.
—Alma Rota, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
In fact, one of the notable things about him in his fighting days was his brutality in the ring, and his soft-spoken demeanor outside it.
—Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 13 Oct. 2025
Biden was slow to react to Netanyahu's growing brutality and, as Harris says in her book, failed to show sufficient empathy for the plight of the Gazans.
—Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025
Gabber’s got this naive brutality to it.
—Alma Rota, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
In fact, one of the notable things about him in his fighting days was his brutality in the ring, and his soft-spoken demeanor outside it.
—Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 13 Oct. 2025
Biden was slow to react to Netanyahu's growing brutality and, as Harris says in her book, failed to show sufficient empathy for the plight of the Gazans.
—Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutality
Noun
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Also on Sunday, Jacqueline’s aunt, Jackelyn Garcia, 28, was arrested and charged with intentional cruelty to a child under the age of 19, risk of injury to a child and first-degree unlawful restraint.—
KC Baker,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
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Other scary asylum stories highlighted a fear of institutional cruelty — of authority figures with total power over vulnerable patients.—
Jen Rose Smith,
CNN Money,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Likewise, young Waller proves a revelation, capable of communicating Danny’s vulnerability and brutishness on the turn of a dime.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
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He was joined by Ali Abbas and Ali Ayyoub, two former ministers of defense facing sanctions for human rights violations and atrocities carried out during the conflict.—
Danny Makki,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
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Only instead of ignoring or burying this awful truth, Kai travels the world, speaking at synagogues and in Jewish community centers about his family’s dark past — and at high schools and colleges to ensure that the atrocities of Nazi Germany are never forgotten or sanitized.—
Johnny Dodd,
PEOPLE,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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All of a sudden, that animalism has been incarnated.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2024
Noun
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This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2025
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But also, something more intrinsic — something like her animality.—
Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason,
New York Times,
6 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutality. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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