Other Word Forms
- overbrutality noun
Etymology
Origin of brutality
Explanation
Brutality is extreme cruelty, deliberate violent meanness. Avoid being the giver or receiver of brutality if you wish to remain a happy human. Brutality comes from brutal (savage, fierce), plus -ity which makes it a noun. It’s the state of being a brute. Many criminals — especially murderers, rapists, and abusers — are guilty of brutality. Police brutality is what happens when the cops use extreme unnecessary force. Brutality is a strong word — just slapping someone isn't quite brutality. Brutality is more like beating a person with a tire iron. Brutality is also the name of a death metal band from Florida.
Vocabulary lists containing brutality
Bronx Masquerade
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All American Boys
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Snakes, freeways, difficult men and Didion’s quiet brutality hang in the air like the oppressive heat of this unusually warm spring day.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
His movie expands on films of a similar nature, finding a sweet spot where themes of empathy, forgiveness, brutality and grace can be discussed with the attention they deserve.
From Salon • Apr. 9, 2026
Ryan Coogler launched his career with an indie look at police brutality in America.
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
The author is also refreshingly clear-eyed in criticizing the brutality of the Paul Kagame regime in Rwanda, for instance, and commendably avoids the usual endorsement of any autocrats who produce high growth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
Maybe they knew their own gift of imagination colored too rosily the poverty and brutality of their lives and made them able to endure it.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
