Synonyms of brutality

brutality

noun

brü-ˈta-lə-tē 

1

as in cruelty

disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others

the police were accused of brutality for using excessive force in making arrests

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

2

as in brutishness

the manifestation of the traits or the gratification of the appetites of a lower animal

the disconcerting ease with which the people adopted the brutality of the enemy invaders

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cruelty
• brutishness
• animalism
• bestiality
• animality
• beastliness
• barbarity
• sensuality
• physicality
• savagery
• rudeness
• carnality
• swinishness
• sadism
• boorishness
• viciousness
• crudeness
• grossness
• coarseness
• loutishness
• wantonness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• spirituality
• intellectuality
• nobility
• magnanimity
• compassion
• kindness
• benevolence
• beneficence
• benignity
• kindliness
• high-mindedness
• greatheartedness
• tenderheartedness
• kindheartedness
• good-heartedness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of brutality

Worse still is cruelty at a level Americans can’t stomach; separation of families, outright brutality against women and the elderly, deaths by indifference, even murder. — Michael Kiefer, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2026

The ballroom reeled from Ballas’ brutality, but it wasn’t unilaterally applied. — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2026

McQueen juxtaposed religious imagery with the brutality of war, incorporating Don McCullin's photographs of the Vietnam War into garments alongside ecclesiastical tailoring, bumster trousers, and thorn-like headpieces. — Livia Caligor, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2026

However, Gates, who resigned in the wake of the 1992 LA Riots, was also viewed as leaving a legacy of police brutality and racial tension. — Tom Wait, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026