as in brute
having or showing the nature and appetites of a lower animal
an apocalyptic sci-fi classic in which a lone drifter fights to avoid the bestial existence lived by the mass of survivors
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 bestial
Despite bestial brutality and life-limiting economic and social injustices made legal—some existing still—our foreparents clung fiercely to their humanity and envisioned ours.
—
Essence, 25 June 2025
Pent-up emotions, regrets, and bestial longings all burst forth in an expansive baritone whose confident quietism distinguishes him from other wispier alt-centric brooders like Daniel Caesar.
—Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
Pain was also inflicted on the dog deliberately during these bestial acts.
—Kc Baker, People.com, 4 Mar. 2025
While her passion for her husband is tame, her screams for Dickinson’s character are bestial and overwhelming.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for bestial
Essence, 25 June 2025
Pent-up emotions, regrets, and bestial longings all burst forth in an expansive baritone whose confident quietism distinguishes him from other wispier alt-centric brooders like Daniel Caesar.
—Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
Pain was also inflicted on the dog deliberately during these bestial acts.
—Kc Baker, People.com, 4 Mar. 2025
While her passion for her husband is tame, her screams for Dickinson’s character are bestial and overwhelming.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for bestial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bestial
Adjective
-
Not softly, but with brute force, with grit and toughness, heart to match his hands.—
Mirjam Swanson,
Oc Register,
29 Sep. 2025
-
The developers sprinkle puzzle elements into some dungeons while also adding moments where stealth is more useful and efficient than brute force.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The scene, which was not in Stephenie Meyer's 2008 book that the movie was adapted from, raised eyebrows for its brutal killings of vampires Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli) and Jasper Hale (Jackson Rathbone), as well as werewolves Seth (Booboo Stewart) and Leah Clearwater (Julia Jones).—
Jen Juneau,
PEOPLE,
2 Oct. 2025
-
In a new era of Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders, the race to own Birmingham’s massive reconstruction project becomes a brutal contest of mythical dimensions.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The roughly 5-month-old kitten got a fresh start after he and his littermates were found living in a colony of feral cats.—
Simone Jasper,
Charlotte Observer,
25 Sep. 2025
-
Why does this guy — who seems nice enough and does have a generational voice but mostly just stood there and waved at phone cameras — have one of the biggest songs in the world and people going absolutely feral for him?—
Heather Bushman,
IndyStar,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Scary Farm visitors will enter the maze as military recruits arriving at the secret lab to be transformed into animalistic super soldiers using one of three methods — surgery, chemical treatments or genetic mutations.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The key characters share in their alterity and summon the animalistic archetype of the stray, behaviorally and physiologically.—
Olivia Bennett,
Variety,
12 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bestial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bestial. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share