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brutal

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of brutal

1 difficult to endure

  • brutal hard labor in the hot sun
Synonyms of brutal

bitter, burdensome, cruel, excruciating, grievous, grim, hard, hardhanded, harsh, heavy, inhuman, murderous, onerous, oppressive, rough, rugged, searing, severe, stiff, tough, trying
Words Related to brutal

austere, bleak, comfortless, discomforting, forbidding, inhospitable, spartan, uncomfortable

biting, inclement, intemperate, wild

rigorous, strict, stringent

agonizing, heartbreaking, heartrending, painful, wretched

crushing, grinding, overwhelming, wearing

insufferable, insupportable, intolerable, unbearable, unendurable

harrowing, tortuous

bad, disagreeable, hostile, unfriendly, unpleasant
Near Antonyms of brutal

comfortable, cozy, luxurious, snug

agreeable, friendly, genial, hospitable, pleasant

peaceful, relaxing, reposeful, restful

bearable, endurable, painless, tolerable

balmy, calm, clement, gentle, mild, moderate, temperate
Antonyms of brutal

easy, light, soft

2 having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others

  • a brutal tyrant who drove his country to revolt
Synonyms of brutal

atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, brute, butcherly, cruel, fiendish, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, sadistic, savage, truculent, vicious, wanton
Words Related to brutal

hard-hearted, ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted, unfeeling

fell, ferocious, grim

bloodthirsty, cutthroat, murderous, sanguinary, sanguine

catty, despiteful, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, vindictive

draconian, draconic, hardhanded, harsh, heavy-handed, oppressive
Phrases Synonymous with brutal

red in tooth and claw
Near Antonyms of brutal

tender, warm, warmhearted

charitable, clement, lenient, merciful, pitying

pacific, peaceable, peaceful
Antonyms of brutal

benign, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, sympathetic, tenderhearted

3 having or showing the nature and appetites of a lower animal

  • a coarse, brutal man who has no sense of what it means to be refined or sensitive or cultured
Synonyms of brutal

animalistic, beastly, bestial, brute, brutish, feral, ferine, subhuman, swinish
Words Related to brutal

animal, bodily, carnal, corporal, corporeal, fleshly, physical, sensual

barbaric, barbarous, cruel, heartless, inhumane, sadistic, savage, vicious, wanton

coarse, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, lowbred, rude, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unrefined, vulgar
Near Antonyms of brutal

chivalrous, elevated, gallant, great, greathearted, high, high-minded, lofty, lordly, magnanimous, noble, sublime

angelic (or angelical), spiritual

beneficent, benevolent, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, kind, kindhearted, kindly, softhearted, tenderhearted

cultivated, cultured, genteel, polished, refined, well-bred

Synonym Discussion of brutal

brutal, brutish, bestial, feral mean characteristic of an animal in nature, action, or instinct. brutal applies to people, their acts, or their words and suggests a lack of intelligence, feeling, or humanity.
    • a senseless and brutal war
brutish stresses likeness to an animal in low intelligence, in base appetites, and in behavior based on instinct.
    • brutish stupidity
bestial suggests a state of degradation unworthy of humans and fit only for beasts.
    • bestial depravity
feral suggests the savagery or ferocity of wild animals.
    • the struggle to survive unleashed their feral impulses

Learn More about brutal

  1. See words that rhyme with brutal Dictionary: Definition of brutal Spanish Central: Translation of brutal Nglish: Translation of brutal for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of brutal for Arabic speakers

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