as in harshly
in a manner so as to cause loss or suffering
the prisoners were treated brutally at the hands of the guards
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Recent Examples of brutally
The group, originally led by Seth Rollins, brutally betrayed him, which was used to write Rollins off television after an injury forced him to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship.
—
Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
On a brutally hot day this summer, my friend Max met up with his family at a playground.
—James Somers, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
In 2014, British banker Rurik Jutting brutally murdered two Indonesian women and hid one of the bodies in a suitcase in his upscale apartment in J Residence in Wan Chai, a popular nightlife district in Hong Kong.
—Chris Lau, CNN Money, 31 Oct. 2025
For five years, Ave and the other children trapped there — three of them aged six and under — were brutally pimped by their trafficker until a neighbor summoned the cops.
—Natalia Paradies, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
The defense, on the other hand, has been brutally bad.
—Matt Hayes, USA TODAY, 31 Oct. 2025
In the original 1996 film that launched the slasher series, Tatum, played by Rose McGowan, was Sidney's best friend, who was brutally murdered by Ghostface in an iconic garage scene.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
After she’s brutally assaulted on her wedding night by a powerful politician (Masaya Takahashi), Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama) makes a deal with the devil (Tatsuya Nakadai) that unlocks an extraordinary power in her — not only over men but over life and death.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
Soon enough, their unexpected romance is tested by opposition from their families, with Sasan getting an offer to practice medicine in Germany and Layla being arrested, imprisoned and brutally interrogated for being a Baha’i woman seeking an education.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 28 Oct. 2025
Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
On a brutally hot day this summer, my friend Max met up with his family at a playground.
—James Somers, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
In 2014, British banker Rurik Jutting brutally murdered two Indonesian women and hid one of the bodies in a suitcase in his upscale apartment in J Residence in Wan Chai, a popular nightlife district in Hong Kong.
—Chris Lau, CNN Money, 31 Oct. 2025
For five years, Ave and the other children trapped there — three of them aged six and under — were brutally pimped by their trafficker until a neighbor summoned the cops.
—Natalia Paradies, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
The defense, on the other hand, has been brutally bad.
—Matt Hayes, USA TODAY, 31 Oct. 2025
In the original 1996 film that launched the slasher series, Tatum, played by Rose McGowan, was Sidney's best friend, who was brutally murdered by Ghostface in an iconic garage scene.
—Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
After she’s brutally assaulted on her wedding night by a powerful politician (Masaya Takahashi), Jeanne (Aiko Nagayama) makes a deal with the devil (Tatsuya Nakadai) that unlocks an extraordinary power in her — not only over men but over life and death.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
Soon enough, their unexpected romance is tested by opposition from their families, with Sasan getting an offer to practice medicine in Germany and Layla being arrested, imprisoned and brutally interrogated for being a Baha’i woman seeking an education.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 28 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutally
Adverb
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In a follow-up study, highly attractive female fitness influencers faced stronger backlash than equally attractive men, perhaps reflecting a broader social tendency to judge women’s looks more harshly.—
Abby Frank,
The Conversation,
5 Nov. 2025
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The Next Gen Stats model graded the decision even more harshly, a 7% dip in win probability.—
Sam McDowell
November 4,
Kansas City Star,
4 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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In August, a group of Palestinian children who had been severely injured in the war in Gaza arrived in San Francisco after the State Department issued around two hundred temporary visas for medical treatment.—
Antonia Hitchens,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
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The administration has slashed funding for federal and university research and severely restricted visas for foreign scientists and technologists.—
LAEL BRAINARD,
Foreign Affairs,
10 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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The second planet from the sun has a completely inhospitable surface, with temperatures reaching 863 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius) and a crushing pressure underneath an oppressively thick atmosphere.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
1 Oct. 2025
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On an oppressively hot Friday in July, plumes of smoke curl up from Arnolds Field.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
15 Aug. 2025
Adverb
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That can take nefarious forms, such as hypothetically hard-coding cheaper ticket prices into the site that are hidden to human users but visible to AI bots, making the platform seem like a more affordable option to the computer model.—
Jacob Feldman,
Sportico.com,
10 Nov. 2025
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The show’s second season, based on Mona Kasten’s book Save You, follows the first installment, which found James Beaufort (Damien Hardung) and Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) go from enemies to lovers as the both worked hard to get into Oxford.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutally.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutally. Accessed 15 Nov. 2025.
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