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
-
These experiments came after a deep-learning model sifted through possibilities to find high-probability candidates, a definitive transformation from brute-force searches typically favored in the past.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Oct. 2025
-
But recent history suggests that its mission would have less to do with proffering aid than with complementing the Kremlin’s liberal use of brute force.—
Tetiana Kotelnykova,
The Atlantic,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Simulations take place between October and March in brutal winter conditions, when the Gobi freezes solid.—
Rosanna Philpott,
CNN Money,
24 Oct. 2025
-
This early modern period would set the foundations of the rise of the transatlantic slave trade and a new form of slavery—hereditary racial slavery—that would be central to the creation of the racial-caste hierarchy and to the rise of Britain’s wealthy and brutal Caribbean slave empire.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The animals are difficult to survey, but experts estimate that the United States is now home to at least six million feral hogs, descendants of those early farm animals and Eurasian wild boars that arrived later.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
-
For example, in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, invasive species like rats and feral cats are considered one of the main causes of extinctions, including to the islands’ famous birds.—
Jessica Beaudette,
The Conversation,
11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Dæmons seem to be an outward manifestation of the complex nature of humans that encompasses, male, female and animalistic characteristics that hint towards the breaking of gender binaries and the possibilities of interspecies relations.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Oct. 2025
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Bestial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bestial. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share