brutal Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
    savage; barbarous; vicious; cruel; fell; roughshod.
    • a barbarous crime
    • brutal beatings
    • cruel tortures
    • Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks
    • a savage slap
    • vicious kicks
  2. adjective satellite harsh
    unrelenting.
    • the brutal summer sun
    • a brutal winter
  3. adjective satellite resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility
    brutish; bestial; brute; beastly.
    • beastly desires
    • a bestial nature
    • brute force
    • a dull and brutish man
    • bestial treatment of prisoners
  4. adjective satellite disagreeably direct and precise
    • he spoke with brutal honesty

WordNet

Bru"tal adjective
Etymology
Cf. F. brutal. See Brute, a.
Definitions
  1. Of or pertaining to a brute; as, brutal nature. "Above the rest of brutal kind." Milton.
  2. Like a brute; savage; cruel; inhuman; brutish; unfeeling; merciless; gross; as, brutal manners. "Brutal intemperance." Macaulay.

Webster 1913