1
as in to humiliate
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
even three years in a prison camp did not brutalize him
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
Red Cross workers reported that prisoners had been brutalized
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of brutalize
Pitching was supposed to be the hallmark of this year’s club, but it’s been brutalized because of injuries.
—
Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Images of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators being tear-gassed, shot, and otherwise brutalized spread around the globe.
—Ben Ehrenreich, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
That morning, Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized and horrifically murdered.
—NPR, 5 Mar. 2025
This despite the fact that Russia has invaded and brutalized a neighbor — committing mass murder, mass torture, mass rape, mass kidnapping — in an effort to subjugate the nation.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 18 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutalize
Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
Images of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators being tear-gassed, shot, and otherwise brutalized spread around the globe.
—Ben Ehrenreich, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
That morning, Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized and horrifically murdered.
—NPR, 5 Mar. 2025
This despite the fact that Russia has invaded and brutalized a neighbor — committing mass murder, mass torture, mass rape, mass kidnapping — in an effort to subjugate the nation.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 18 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutalize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutalize
Verb
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The writer-director’s smartest move is never to deny Colin his dignity, even when he’s humiliated for disappointing Ray or getting vigorously plowed on a table.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
18 May 2025
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But who among us has not had a little marital spat over one person buying an entire hospital just to humiliate the other?—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
16 May 2025
Verb
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For one, the Fed is unconstrained in its printing of dollars and is therefore more likely to abuse that power in its attempt to stabilize the US economy.—
Korok Ray,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2025
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There are players who abused steroids, served their penalty and are now back in the game.—
John Nogowski,
Hartford Courant,
14 May 2025
Verb
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The post was a joke, and perhaps an effective one, maximizing the distance between Studio Ghibli’s tender, bittersweet, profoundly human ethos and the gleeful, dehumanizing viciousness that is Trump’s stock-in-trade.—
Jia Tolentino,
New Yorker,
3 May 2025
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Garcia was detained in March and deported to his native El Salvador, where he is being held in a system where human beings are routinely dehumanized.—
Colin Pascal,
Baltimore Sun,
27 Apr. 2025
Verb
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His rustiness was evident, as he was bullied off the ball often and punished for an uncharacteristically poor first touch at the Emirates Stadium.—
Harry De Cosemo,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
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But he’s bullied at that school, and even at home, things rarely go his way.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
20 May 2025
Verb
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Years later, the toxic chemicals have poisoned Hong-rang’s body.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
16 May 2025
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And two, baking soda is an indiscriminate weed killer that poisons the soil.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
16 May 2025
Verb
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Trump is working to weaponize immigration enforcement to create an increasingly brutal and unaccountable system — one where anyone could be mistreated, denied justice and left without recourse.—
Juan Vargas,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 May 2025
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Picasso was known for mistreating the women in his life.—
Eli Wizevich,
Smithsonian Magazine,
1 May 2025
Verb
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We’ve often been lectured by people all over the place about how the United States needs to continue to be a beacon for those who are oppressed abroad.—
Asher Notheis,
The Washington Examiner,
18 May 2025
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Rather than change the structures that oppress the masses, Benjamin writes, the fascist merely offers the masses a spectacle that gives them the impression that their desires have been met.—
Constance Grady,
Vox,
25 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The duo were accused of torturing and killing Micah in March 2018 in the garage of Queen's friend Matthew Vandecasteele over a missing gun dispute, then dismembering Micah and disposing of his body parts.—
Emily Krauser,
People.com,
12 May 2025
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Airlines would just shrink the size of their seats even more, leaving all of us scrambling desperately to feel a little less tortured on our next flights.—
Christopher Elliott,
USA Today,
10 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutalize. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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