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

The massacre was part of a years-long campaign of brutality against the Muslim minority conducted by the Buddhist-run state. — Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 15 Sep. 2026

Maryland leaders must make clear that brutality and lawless intimidation will not be tolerated. — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 10 Sep. 2026

The damage done to Eubank Jr was partly a result of the brutality of the fight with Benn — who had come up two weight classes to make the fight — but also what had gone on in the build-up. — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026

In 2016, the former San Francisco 49ers player first sat, then knelt, during the anthem to protest police brutality. — Michel Martin, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026