brutalize

verb

bru·​tal·​ize ˈbrü-tᵊl-ˌīz 

brutalized; brutalizing

transitive verb

1

: to make brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman

temperaments brutalized by poverty and disease

2

: to treat brutally

an accord not to brutalize prisoners of war

brutalization

ˌbrü-tᵊl-ə-ˈzā-shən 

noun

Synonyms

• animalize
• bestialize
• dehumanize

Examples of brutalize in a Sentence

a young man brutalized by the experience of war

The prisoners claimed to have been brutalized by their captors.

Recent Examples on the Web

Images of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators being tear-gassed, shot, and otherwise brutalized spread around the globe. —Ben Ehrenreich, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025

That morning, Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized and horrifically murdered. —NPR, 5 Mar. 2025

This despite the fact that Russia has invaded and brutalized a neighbor — committing mass murder, mass torture, mass rape, mass kidnapping — in an effort to subjugate the nation. —Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 18 Feb. 2025

There were images of riots, burning cities and Black people brutalizing white people. —James Bandler, ProPublica, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French brutaliser, going back to Middle French, from brutal brutal + -iser -ize

First Known Use

circa 1704, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for brutalize

• advertise
• aggrandize
• agonize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize