brutalize

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UK/ˈbɹuːtəlaɪz/Canada, US/ˈbɹutəlaɪz/Canada, US[ˈbɹu.ɾə.laɪz]Australia/ˈbɹʉːtəlaɪz/

A form of brutalise — To inflict brutal violence on.

RareScrabble 20

Meanings

verbbrutalize (third-person singular simple present brutalizes, present participle brutalizing, simple past and past participle brutalized)

present singular third person brutalizes · participle present brutalizing · participle past brutalized · past brutalized · alternative brutalise

  1. alternativeAlternative spelling of brutalise.

    The subconscious activities are not rationalized and humanized, they are in fact more brutalized than ever, inasmuch as under the aegis of military law and under the tacit understanding that necessity knows no law, there is no pity and no mercy in war.

    1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress
    1 more example

    It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.

    1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38

Synonyms & antonyms

verbtreat brutally

Similar

verbmake brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman

verbbecome brutal or insensitive and unfeeling

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷreh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷréh₂usder.?
  3. Proto-Italic*gʷrūtos
  4. Latinbrūtus
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  7. Medieval Latinbrūtālis
  8. Englishbrutal
  9. Englishbrutalize

From brutal + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

brutalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brutalize

MLA

“brutalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brutalize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brutalize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brutalize.

Source: brutalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.