brutish

adjective brut·ish \ ˈbrü-tish \

Updated on: 14 May 2018

Definition of brutish

1 : resembling, befitting, or typical of a brute or beast

lived a short and brutish life as a slave

2 a : strongly and grossly sensual

brutish gluttony

b : showing little intelligence or sensibility

a brutish lack of understanding

—

brutishly

adverb

—

brutishness

noun

See brutish defined for English-language learners

See brutish defined for kids

Examples of brutish in a Sentence

She is married to a brutish, drunken slob.
as the months of recurrent combat dragged on, the daily existence of the soldiers became increasingly brutish

Recent Examples of brutish from the Web

Justin Timberlake luxuriates in a silver Jaguar E-Type and is terrorized by brutish Dodge Challengers in In Time.

— darryn king, WIRED, "Director Andrew Niccol Lives in His Own Truman Show (And So Do You)," 4 May 2018
Meanwhile, Brea meets a troubled-looking woman (Dawn Olivieri) in the bathroom, who discretely slips a satellite phone into Brea’s bag before being hustled away by another brutish biker.

— andrew barker, chicagotribune.com, "'Traffik' review: Paula Patton in a confused mess of a would-be human trafficking thriller," 20 Apr. 2018
Artist Stephen Mooney's work is sharp, and Carlson comes off as imposing and brutish even in his paunchier retirement.

— will nevin, OregonLive.com, "TBT #34: Retired Robocop, Cold War vets and more coming in comics," 11 Apr. 2018
And to many young people, syphilis seems a relic of earlier, more brutish times — the undoing of Al Capone and Charles Baudelaire, not something floating around in 2018.

— matthew ormseth, courant.com, "Hartford Secures Grant To Combat Syphilis, On The Rebound In Connecticut And The Country," 6 Apr. 2018
The white man was a soldier, nasty, brutish and bent on misusing the indigenous workers around him.

— taylor antrim, Vogue, "Don’t Miss the Stunning Australian Western Sweet Country," 6 Apr. 2018
To be asked to guard a plodding, brutish center, followed by an All-Star shooting guard in the same season, let alone a week's span, is unique.

— joe vardon, cleveland.com, "LeBron James doesn't need reminders of what his team can accomplish: Inside Cavs-Raptors," 22 Mar. 2018
What follows is the face journey of a woman who has tasted in the nuggets that life is, indeed, nasty, brutish, and short.

— madeleine aggeler, The Cut, "Is Katy Perry Okay?," 30 Mar. 2018
Parsi has a noble use for Streetcar, which is to take Williams's classic tale of Blanche DuBois, ruined southern belle, and update it for our present, brutish moment.

— tony adler, Chicago Reader, "Novid Parsi’s Through the Elevated Line is a slavish update of a masterpiece," 21 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'brutish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of brutish

1534

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

brutish Synonyms

Synonyms

animalistic, beastly, bestial, brutal, brute, feral, subhuman, swinish;

Near Antonyms

chivalrous, elevated, gallant, great, greathearted, high, high-minded, lofty, lordly, magnanimous, noble, sublime;

angelic (or angelical), spiritual;

beneficent, benevolent, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, kind, kindhearted, kindly, softhearted, tenderhearted;

cultivated, cultured, genteel, polished, refined, well-bred;

barbaric, barbarous, cruel, heartless, inhumane, sadistic, savage, vicious, wanton;

coarse, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, lowbred, rude, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unrefined, vulgar;

Synonym Discussion of brutish

brutal, brutish, bestial, feral mean characteristic of an animal in nature, action, or instinct. brutal applies to people, their acts, or their words and suggests a lack of intelligence, feeling, or humanity.