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Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Spike Lee’s masterpiece was met with hand-wringing when it arrived in theaters 37 summers ago, with white critics fretting how “urban audiences” would react to its shocking ending of brutality and angry protest.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
The head of refereeing said Johnston's tackle did not meet the "criteria" in terms of "excessive force", "brutality" and "endangering the safety of an opponent".
From BBC • May 29, 2026
Of course, there are counterexamples, such as the winter protests in Minneapolis in response to brutality by agents with U.S.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
Phrenology’s popularity plummeted after the Civil War; Mr. Stob suggests that the conflict’s extreme brutality undercut practical phrenology’s grand aspirations for self-improvement.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
To him, slavery, in all its harsh brutality, was a fact of life.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
