imbrute

American  

[im-broot] / ɪmˈbrut /

Or embrute

verb (used with or without object)

imbruted, imbruting

1. to degrade or sink to the level of a brute.

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Other Word Forms

• embrutement
  noun
• imbrutement
  noun

Etymology

Origin of imbrute

First recorded in 1625–35; im- ¹ + brute ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

imbrute imbruted imbruting

I care, as you know, nothing for them, nor only that, abhor them for their power to imbrute the people accustomed to their spectacles more and more.

From Zenobia or, the Fall of Palmyra by Ware, William

Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.

From Walden by Thoreau, Henry David

Long-wrought, closely knit, subtly swaying, deep-rooted, The system whose shadow is over the child; By grey superstition debased and imbruted, By craft's callous cruelty deeply defiled.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, October 18, 1890 by Various

Retribution may come from any voice; the hardest, crudest most imbruted urchin at the street-corner can inflict it.

From George Eliot; a Critical Study of Her Life, Writings & Philosophy by Cooke, George Willis

By means of a few drops of powerful cordial, the doctor for a moment reanimated the imbruted carcass that lay before him.

From Five Weeks in a Balloon by Verne, Jules

Thus, under the gaslight and under the stars, stood the terrible animal,—a strong man imbruted; "SOUVIENS-TOI DE TA GABRIELLE."

From What Will He Do with It? — Complete by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

This imbruted creature, says the objector, does not possess the metaphysical conception of God as a Spirit, and of all his various attributes and qualities, like the dweller in Christendom.

From Sermons to the Natural Man by Shedd, William G. T. (William Greenough Thayer)

Not a few, on finding they cannot enter the beautiful paradise of happy love, plunge into imbruting vice, and drown not only their disappointment but themselves in dissipation.

From Barriers Burned Away by Roe, Edward Payson

It spoke of a pause from grinding care and imbruting toil; a gleam of hope in the work-a-day routine.

From The Gold of Chickaree by Warner, Susan