Synonyms of barbarity

barbarity

noun

bär-ˈber-ə-tē 

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cruelty
• brutality
• atrocity
• savagery
• inhumanity
• savageness
• sadism
• heartlessness
• viciousness
• murderousness
• cruelness
• fiendishness
• barbarousness
• truculence
• wantonness
• inhumanness
• ruthlessness
• atrociousness
• mercilessness
• ferocity
• meanness
• pitilessness
• grimness
• oppressiveness
• bloodthirstiness
• fierceness
• ferociousness
• malevolence
• bloodlust
• malignity
• hard-heartedness
• spitefulness
• hatefulness
• unfeelingness
• maliciousness
• sanguinity
• fellness
• harshness
• nastiness
• sanguineness
• despitefulness
• cattiness
• heavy-handedness
• hardhandedness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humanity
• sympathy
• compassion
• kindness
• humaneness
• benignity
• tenderness
• warmth
• tenderheartedness
• kindheartedness
• pity
• mercy
• warmness
• good-heartedness
• clemency
• leniency
• warmheartedness
• charitableness
• mercifulness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of barbarity

Thousands of children have been terrorized, detained, and many have been deported because of ICE’s unchecked barbarity. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Jan. 2026

Cathy escapes, the Jimmies' numbers are diminished, and the stomach-churning barbarity finally comes to an end. — Megan McCluskey, Time, 16 Jan. 2026

His observations about the barbarity of women’s beauty regimens aren’t exactly new, but they are acted out with enthusiasm and verve. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2026

The Geneva Conventions, international treaties that aim to limit the barbarities of war, stipulate that those unable to take part in hostilities must be protected. — Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Dec. 2025