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
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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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of brutality
Civil War For a movie about political violence, police brutality, PTSD, and the ethics of journalism, a whole lot of people got a whole lot of mileage out of a single image of Jesse Plemons wearing heart sunglasses.
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Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 23 Dec. 2024
There's no shortage of brutality in the book or the film, but the movie doesn't explicitly show the beatings, abuse or racist acts.
—Felecia Wellington Radel, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2024
An advocate for prison reform, the psychologist hoped to demonstrate that the prison environment encouraged this dehumanisation and brutality.
—Tess Foley-Cox, theweek, 20 Dec. 2024
His long-coming demise is surprising only by its level of brutality.
—Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for brutality 
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 23 Dec. 2024
There's no shortage of brutality in the book or the film, but the movie doesn't explicitly show the beatings, abuse or racist acts.
—Felecia Wellington Radel, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2024
An advocate for prison reform, the psychologist hoped to demonstrate that the prison environment encouraged this dehumanisation and brutality.
—Tess Foley-Cox, theweek, 20 Dec. 2024
His long-coming demise is surprising only by its level of brutality.
—Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for brutality
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutality
Noun
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His father, Colin Gray, is facing 29 charges — including two counts of involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to children — related to the shooting at his son’s high school.Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 17 Dec. 2024
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Patole's words can feel shocking to those in the West, where the conversation about eating meat revolves around ethics: the cruelty of animal slaughter and the environmental cost of raising animals for meat.Omkar Khandekar, NPR, 15 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Anyone capable of the atrocities that Vick was responsible for is beyond redemption.Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2024
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However, its forces are made up of jihadist militants, who were shown on video committing a slew of atrocities, including beheadings and the desecration of corpses during their lightning offensive that led to Assad’s collapse.Brady Knox, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 Dec. 2024
Noun
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All of a sudden, that animalism has been incarnated.Hunter Ingram, Variety, 25 Mar. 2024
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But what Cameron represents to Harper is unfettered animalism, and that’s part of what’s missing in her relationship with Ethan.Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2022
Noun
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The other characters are getting animalities, as well: Peacemaker gets the eagle, Omni-Man the Hail Mary kaiju from Invincible, and Johnny Cage becomes a shark.Nick Romano, EW.com, 23 Sep. 2024
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Meg combined elements of Christie Monteiro, with Bryans Snakeskin Pants (both from Tekken), while dancing in a DDR setting similarly to Ulala from Space Channel 5, fatalities and animalities from MK, with nods to old school games from the Sega Genesis era.Solcyré Burga, TIME, 10 May 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Brutality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutality. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.
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