brutalize

verb

bru·​tal·​ize ˈbrü-tᵊl-ˌīz 

brutalized; brutalizing

transitive verb

1

: to make brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman

temperaments brutalized by poverty and disease

2

: to treat brutally

an accord not to brutalize prisoners of war

brutalization

ˌbrü-tᵊl-ə-ˈzā-shən 

noun

Synonyms

• animalize
• bestialize
• dehumanize

Examples of brutalize in a Sentence

a young man brutalized by the experience of war

The prisoners claimed to have been brutalized by their captors.

Recent Examples on the Web

Trump has brutalized the media and is a big reason trust has eroded in the fourth estate. —Nolan Finley, Twin Cities, 31 Jan. 2025

Inside the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the soldiers liberated roughly 7,000 prisoners who had been brutalized by a Nazi regime hell-bent on exterminating the Jewish people. —Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 27 Jan. 2025

This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024

Particularly since the same poisonous influences that brutalized mostly peculiar women 400 years ago are alive and well today. —Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French brutaliser, going back to Middle French, from brutal brutal + -iser -ize

First Known Use

circa 1704, in the meaning defined at sense 1