Synonyms for brutal
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Cruel — savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner
cruel, savage, merciless, brutish, ruthless, beastly UK, barbarous, barbaric, inhuman, unmerciful, violent, vicious, bestial, bloody, ferocious, remorseless, brute, sadistic, pitiless, truculent, nasty, fell
2. Harsh — harsh; unrelenting
harsh, tough, heartless, severe, rough, callous, hard, unfeeling, rigorous, unyielding, unsympathetic, stiff, insensitive, strict, vengeable dated
3. Heavy-handed — direct and without attempt to disguise unpleasantness
4. Brusque — crude or unfeeling in manner or speech
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner.
The game was brutal, but after a bloodbath he finally won.
- adj. 2
Crude or unfeeling in manner or speech.
- adj. 3
Harsh; unrelenting.
- adj. 4
Direct and without attempt to disguise unpleasantness.
Choose the right word
A brutish man simply follows his animal instincts, without special inclination to do harm; the brutal have always a spirit of malice and cruelty.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- cruel I think it is cruel to trap animals for fur coats.
- savage There are still some savage tribes on that island.
- merciless The Vandals were known for their merciless brutality.
- brutish He was coarse in his habits and brutish in his ways.
- heartless We're all handicapped and heartless in own ways.
- callous There is no need to be callous about deforestation.
By length
- 4 letters
- hard1, fell1
- 5 letters
- tough1, rough1, nasty2, cruel2, harsh1, stiff1, blunt1, brute1
- 6 letters
- severe2, bloody2, strict1, savage2
- 7 letters
- violent3, vicious2, inhuman3, callous2, beastly2, brutish2, bestial2, brusque1
- 8 letters
- rigorous3, ruthless2, barbaric3, sadistic3, pitiless3, unsubtle3
- 9 letters
- heartless2, ferocious3, merciless3, barbarous3, unfeeling3, truculent3, vengeable
- 10 letters
- unyielding3, unmerciful4
- 11 letters
- insensitive4, unrelenting4, remorseless3
- 13 letters
- unsympathetic5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (nasty2 = 2 syllables).