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
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of brutality
The use of mercenaries helped to hide the brutality of war from many Russians, and seemed like a good deal for Wagner’s armed contractors too.
—
Nicolas Niarchos, New York Times, 13 May 2025
The trial was the latest legal chapter in a case that has drawn national attention to issues of police brutality and accountability, especially in Memphis, a majority-Black city.
—Sacbee.com, 7 May 2025
Set in Los Angeles in 2018, with police brutality and the early stages of the Black Lives Matter movement very firmly part of its zeitgeist, Forever begins with Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.) unexpectedly reconnecting at a New Year’s Eve party.
—Ebonie Walker, Refinery29, 12 May 2025
The Israeli government is indeed openly promising to commit horrific crimes against Palestinian civilians — brutality even above what the world has seen for the past year and a half.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Nicolas Niarchos, New York Times, 13 May 2025
The trial was the latest legal chapter in a case that has drawn national attention to issues of police brutality and accountability, especially in Memphis, a majority-Black city.
—Sacbee.com, 7 May 2025
Set in Los Angeles in 2018, with police brutality and the early stages of the Black Lives Matter movement very firmly part of its zeitgeist, Forever begins with Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.) unexpectedly reconnecting at a New Year’s Eve party.
—Ebonie Walker, Refinery29, 12 May 2025
The Israeli government is indeed openly promising to commit horrific crimes against Palestinian civilians — brutality even above what the world has seen for the past year and a half.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutality
Noun
-
On Tuesday, May 20, the Orange County District Attorney's Office confirmed in a press release that Alejandro Acosta Oliveros was charged with felony animal cruelty and felony theft of a companion animal.—
Gabrielle Rockson,
People.com,
21 May 2025
-
Turquoise Morton, 38, is charged with abandoning a domestic animal and animal cruelty for allegedly torturing, tormenting, or maiming a dog.—
Muri Assunção,
New York Daily News,
20 May 2025
Noun
-
Pakistan, which has a history of providing clandestine support to the Taliban, has blamed the latter for providing a safe haven to terrorists who commit atrocities on Pakistani soil.—
Hasan Ali,
Christian Science Monitor,
19 May 2025
-
But fighting had broken out across Sudan, and reports of atrocities were filtering in from the countryside: mass rapes, mass executions, torture.—
Nicolas Niarchos,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Noun
-
Hope is something that Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri can related to, having explored the dualities of hope and despair (as well as lightness and darkness, and fluidity and animalism) in her spring 2023 collection.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
WWD,
22 Jan. 2025
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All of a sudden, that animalism has been incarnated.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2024
Noun
-
This strangeness causes all sorts of internal agitation, an uneasiness about humanity’s closeness to animality.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2025
-
But also, something more intrinsic — something like her animality.—
Camille Bromley Gabra Zackman Krish Seenivasan David Mason,
New York Times,
6 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutality. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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