brutish
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or resembling a brute or brutes; animal
-
coarse; cruel; stupid
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of brutish
Explanation
Use the adjective brutish to describe someone who is so cruel or violent that he seems more like a wild animal than a human. A brutish king will be deeply disliked by his subjects. Someone who's brutish is uncivilized in some way. A brutish person might, for example, knock a table over when he's angry or slap another person without a thought. Brutish leaders make decisions that endanger or even kill people. The word brutish means "like a brute," and a brute is an extremely violent or wild person or animal. In the 1500's, brutish simply meant "like an animal," and the Latin root word, brutus, means "heavy, dull, or stupid."
Vocabulary lists containing brutish
Surviving Hitler
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Excerpt from "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar"
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Becoming Kareem
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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.
While she deftly fends off his brutish attempts to express his attraction—Anna’s past has made her wary of men and skilled at putting them in their place—Anna nevertheless feels drawn to this forceful man.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 14, 2025
But the longed-for comeuppance of the brutish earl is as much an attraction to the series as Ms. Peckham.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
He quotes the philosopher Thomas Hobbes that our lives have been “nasty, brutish and short.”
From Slate • Jul. 28, 2025
Ali, a massive underdog, had cast himself as the charismatic good guy and Foreman the brutish villain.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2025
Neanderthals are often depicted in caricatures as the archetypical brutish and stupid ‘cave people’, but recent evidence has changed their image.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
