brutal
/ˈbɹuːtəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈbɹʉwtəl/
brutal adjective: savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner.
Adjective
brutal (comparative more brutal, superlative most brutal)
- Savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner.
- The game was brutal, but after a bloodbath he finally won.
- What began as a zeitgeisty outlaw romp in the Uncool Britannia of the 1990s is now reborn as a scabrous and brutal black comedy about middle-aged male disappointment and fear of death.2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian
- Synonyms:
- barbaric, barbarous, savage, truculent, bowelless, compassionless, cruel, flagitious, demonic, despiteful
- Crude or unfeeling in manner or speech.
- Synonyms:
- blunt, brusque, cold-blooded
- Harsh; unrelenting.
- Synonyms:
- callous, severe, unyielding, cold, insensate, hardhanded, cold-eyed, cruel, dour, thick-skinned
- Disagreeably precise or penetrating.
- In extreme metal, to describe the speed of the music and the density of riffs.
- Direct and without attempt to disguise unpleasantness.
- brutal honesty
brutal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
brutal in Hindi
- savagely violent
- बर्बर barbar, क्रूर krūr
brutal in Tamil
- மிருகத்தனமான
brutal in Urdu
- سفاکانہ
brutal in Bengali
- পাশবিক, নিষ্ঠুর, বর্বর, নির্দয়, পশুপ্রকৃতি, অশিষ্ট
More languagesFewer languages
- brutal in Malayalam
- ക്രൂരമായ, മൃഗീയമായ
- brutal in Kannada
- ಗಾರು, ಮರುಕವಿಲ್ಲದ, ಕಾಳು
Examples of brutal in a sentence
- I can’t believe he bid the Syracuse turn; that can be brutal in the winter!
- The brutal crackdown on protests has only served to galvanize the insurrectionary mood in the country.
- I will do this no matter how brutal the ethnoreligious persecution could become.
Synonyms of brutal
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of brutal
| comparative | more brutal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most brutal |
Origin of brutal
From Medieval Latin brutalis (“savage, stupid”), from Latin brūtus (“dull, stupid”).
Words formed from brutal
Words that rhyme with brutal
Questions about brutal
- What does brutal mean?
- Brutal means savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner.
- What is brutal in Hindi?
- Brutal in Hindi is बर्बर (barbar), क्रूर (krūr). See Brutal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is brutal?
- Brutal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce brutal?
- Brutal is pronounced /ˈbɹuːtəl/ (UK).
Words near brutal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brutal (page history and authors); brutal (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brutal (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brutal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brutal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brutal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-brutal.wav.
Cite this entry: “brutal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brutal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.