as in cruelty
disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others
more than one reluctant dental patient has been tempted to level the charge of barbarity against their dentist
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Recent Examples of barbarity
The vast majority of us see that as an act of cultural barbarity.
—
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 15 Aug. 2025
The new episodes have all the flaws of the misguided Season 2, including that the show's core anticapitalist message has been swept aside in favor of more action set pieces and ceaseless barbarity.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 28 June 2025
As in Squid Game, dystopian drama often plays on the barbarity of entertainment, impossible promises of curing human weakness, and finds salvation in our best qualities: solidarity, compassion, and unity.
—Rory Doherty, Time, 27 June 2025
Enforcing immigration policy does not have to be inhumane, but the Trump administration is gloating in the very barbarity.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 14 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for barbarity
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 15 Aug. 2025
The new episodes have all the flaws of the misguided Season 2, including that the show's core anticapitalist message has been swept aside in favor of more action set pieces and ceaseless barbarity.
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 28 June 2025
As in Squid Game, dystopian drama often plays on the barbarity of entertainment, impossible promises of curing human weakness, and finds salvation in our best qualities: solidarity, compassion, and unity.
—Rory Doherty, Time, 27 June 2025
Enforcing immigration policy does not have to be inhumane, but the Trump administration is gloating in the very barbarity.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 14 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for barbarity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for barbarity
Noun
-
Pardo Bazán’s themes are fear, love, hatred, forgiveness, cruelty, repentance, homesickness, and madness—that is, naked reality as experienced across social strata in her time.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
-
The punishment doesn't match the cruelty of your actions.—
Cameron Knight,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
10 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
With much of the world horrified by the USSR’s brutality, Eisenhower was furious that the British-French-Israeli offensive was both diverting international attention and handing Moscow a PR victory by enabling it to speak about Western aggression in the Middle East.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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The 1986 film also included accounts by former conscripts who had been forced to participate in the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, making clear the hopelessness and brutality of the war, starkly contrasting with the Kremlin’s version of a war of progress and purpose.—
Will Tizard,
Variety,
2 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Barbarity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/barbarity. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.
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