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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.
Appeared in the May 5, 2026, print edition as 'A Prelude To Brutality'.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
Brutality on its own doesn’t make a good punchline, he said.
From New York Times • Nov. 3, 2023
Data on the website of the citizen group Communities United Against Police Brutality showed a fourth complaint, in 2018, that remains open.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 3, 2022
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said the new policy is “pretty disappointing.”
From Washington Times • Nov. 25, 2020
Brutality and sentiment rub elbows, and are so strangely intermingled amongst our neighbours that I, for one, abandon all attempts at understanding them.
From The Schemes of the Kaiser by Adam, Juliette
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.
