brutalize

verb

ˈbrü-tᵊl-ˌīz How to pronounce brutalize (audio)
Definition of brutalizenext
1
as in to humiliate
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being even three years in a prison camp did not brutalize him

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon Red Cross workers reported that prisoners had been brutalized

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of brutalize In 2022, two corrections officers at the Laurens County Detention Center in South Carolina were arrested and charged with brutalizing an inmate and using a GLOVE device to repeatedly stun them, CNN noted. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 12 Aug. 2026 Each competitor was giving it their all with brutalizing chops, tough suplexes and going above and beyond to try to win that championship. — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 15 July 2026 Drozhak dreams that a future robot army would put an end to the ability of autocratic regimes worldwide to brutalize their neighbors. — Tereza Pultarova, IEEE Spectrum, 10 July 2026 The same curriculum includes Prophet Muhammed’s history of brutalizing Christians and Jewish people — a framing that Muslim families and interfaith advocates found issue with in public comment. — Rachel Royster. Produced With Ai Assistance, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for brutalize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutalize
  1. humiliate
  2. abuse
  3. dehumanize
  4. bully
  5. poison
  6. mistreat
  7. oppress
  8. torture
Verb
  • From the very start, the students assigned as guards went on cruel power trips and repeatedly humiliated — if not psychologically tortured — the inmates, to the point that some of the prisoners suffered nervous breakdowns.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 29 Oct. 2026
  • The Packers come off an angry loss while the Panthers were humiliated on Sunday.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of humiliate
Verb
  • After teenage boys first reported that they had been abused in 2005, Church of the Resurrection conducted an internal investigation that court records show was inconclusive.
    — Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Acton’s campaign on Tuesday posted a video of her brother, who supported her backstory about living in a tent and being abused.
    — Julie Carr Smyth, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of abuse
Verb
  • Casting Robinson as a monster dehumanizes a man who lived with severe disabilities, and his family still lives with that legacy.
    — Jeffrey Tolbert, The Conversation, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Their partnership fractured over Gilpin's refusal to keep delivering dehumanizing racial slurs written into the script, a dispute that ultimately led to Gilpin being replaced by a young Paul Robeson when the production went overseas.
    — La'Tasha Givens, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of dehumanize
Verb
  • Pressure from students over grades was reported more frequently than bullying from colleagues.
    — Jason Walker, The Conversation, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Police said the father, Thomas Frimprong, 60, has told NYPD detectives two fellow students had recently been suspended for bullying his son.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of bully
Verb
  • Morison’s followers called themselves Hygeists and attacked physicians as a monopoly that bled and poisoned its patients, which was not inaccurate in the 1830s.
    — Jim Downs, STAT, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Two young men were arraigned Wednesday for fentanyl distribution conspiracy after a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology was fatally poisoned and another nearly died.
    — Lisa Rozner, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of poison
Verb
  • The customer can challenge a decision without mistreating the person explaining it.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Dustin Degenhardt, a voter in the town of Wainwright, said that Albertans have long been mistreated by Canada’s federal government.
    — Rob Gillies, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of mistreat
Verb
  • At the sectarian level, Baptists ridiculed Quakers, Presbyterians oppressed Anabaptists.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Look what women can do when they’re not abused, oppressed, and angry about being abused and oppressed!
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of oppress
Verb
  • Serhiy, like Zabuzhko, locates his captor’s impulse to torture him in the very pages written by the Russian novelist.
    — Madeleine Wulfahrt, New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2026
  • The pirate crew is said to have tortured, killed and raped those aboard the royal ship, sparking global outrage and what is considered the first worldwide manhunt.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of torture

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Cite this Entry

“Brutalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutalize. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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