Brutalize
verb
To treat or harm someone very badly, often in a violent or severe manner.
The dictator brutally mistreated his people for years.
Often appears as...
- brutalize innocent people
- brutalize a prisoner
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To make someone or something crude or violent.
War can brutalize people, making them lose their humanity.
Often appears as...
- brutalize a society
- brutalize a community
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To treat or harm someone very badly, often in a violent or severe manner.
The dictator brutally mistreated his people for years.
Often appears as...
- brutalize innocent people
- brutalize a prisoner
Usage tips
Disapproving
verb
To make someone or something crude or violent.
War can brutalize people, making them lose their humanity.
Often appears as...
- brutalize a society
- brutalize a community
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Severity Highlight
Use 'brutalize' to stress the extreme cruelty or harshness of the treatment received.
Journalists reported that the regime brutalized protestors without mercy.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Harm
'Brutalize' implies an active effort to inflict suffering or hardship on others.
The officers were accused of brutally brutalizing the unarmed man during the arrest.
Pro Tip 3/3Intensity
The word often describes situations worse than common neglect or mistreatment.
After being brutalized in captivity, the hostages were finally rescued.
Pro Tip 1/3Severity Highlight
Use 'brutalize' to stress the extreme cruelty or harshness of the treatment received.
Journalists reported that the regime brutalized protestors without mercy.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Harm
'Brutalize' implies an active effort to inflict suffering or hardship on others.
The officers were accused of brutally brutalizing the unarmed man during the arrest.
Pro Tip 3/3Intensity
The word often describes situations worse than common neglect or mistreatment.
After being brutalized in captivity, the hostages were finally rescued.
Pro Tip 1/3Severity Highlight
Use 'brutalize' to stress the extreme cruelty or harshness of the treatment received.
Journalists reported that the regime brutalized protestors without mercy.
Pro Tip 2/3Active Harm
'Brutalize' implies an active effort to inflict suffering or hardship on others.
The officers were accused of brutally brutalizing the unarmed man during the arrest.
Pro Tip 3/3Intensity
The word often describes situations worse than common neglect or mistreatment.
After being brutalized in captivity, the hostages were finally rescued.
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Video examples
The urgent need for...
decades of terrorism and violence and the lynching that we are trying to memorialize terrorize people of color in this community we've never talked about thousands of people pulled into the courthouse square sometimes brutalized burned alive the demographic geography of this nation was shaped by terrorism
Video examples
Bob Thurman: We can be...
totally intolerable that we sit here in comfort and in pleasure and enjoying the life of the mind or whatever it is, and there are people who are absolutely riddled with disease and they cannot have a bite of food and they have no place, or they're being brutalized by some terrible person and so forth.
Video examples
Jodi Cobb: Human Bondage...
captive brutalized and exploited for profit it was a global story on an emotional issue that depended on being behind closed doors and it was accumulation of all my interests and all my passion and all my experience and it
Video examples
The urgent need for...
decades of terrorism and violence and the lynching that we are trying to memorialize terrorize people of color in this community we've never talked about thousands of people pulled into the courthouse square sometimes brutalized burned alive the demographic geography of this nation was shaped by terrorism
Video examples
Bob Thurman: We can be...
totally intolerable that we sit here in comfort and in pleasure and enjoying the life of the mind or whatever it is, and there are people who are absolutely riddled with disease and they cannot have a bite of food and they have no place, or they're being brutalized by some terrible person and so forth.
Video examples
Jodi Cobb: Human Bondage...
captive brutalized and exploited for profit it was a global story on an emotional issue that depended on being behind closed doors and it was accumulation of all my interests and all my passion and all my experience and it
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
David Oyelowo
English Actor
There are many, many communities, many ethnic minorities, many civilizations that have been brutalised by others and you have to move on. You cannot perpetually stay in that place of blame, otherwise it's just a downward spiral.
Quote examples
Margaret Cho
American Comedian
My former bullies pay extra to come backstage and meet me after shows, and I pretend not to know them in front of their friends. It is the most divine pleasure to exact the revenge of the brutalized child that resides within.
Quote examples
Andre Dubus III
American Writer
I was always a sensitive, sweet kid, but I got brutalized and I became brutal. And frankly, I don't think it was my natural makeup. I don't think its anyone's natural makeup to be a violent brawler.
Quote examples
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
American Politician
I support strong sanctions and other penalties against those who aid violent extremists, brutalize their own people and have time and time again rejected calls to behave as responsible nations.
Quote examples
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
South African Activist
One of the greatest things I fear is letting down my people. I wouldn't live with that type of conscience, of having let down my people after they've been brutalized for so long.
Quote examples
Thomas Friedman
American Journalist
I'm a capitalist. I believe in capitalism. But capitalism only works if you have safety nets to deal with people who are naturally left behind and brutalized by it.
Quote examples
Opal Tometi
American Activist
We can't continue to sit on our hands and sit idly by as people are being brutalized, disenfranchised, and left out of the system.
Quote examples
Larry Wilmore
American Comedian
The fact that we live in a world where black people have to strategize so they're not brutalized by police is insane.
Quote examples
Hamid Karzai
Statesman
They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.
Quote examples
Maryanne Trump Barry
American Judge
Thugs who brutalize elderly people should be punished severely.
Quote examples
David Oyelowo
English Actor
There are many, many communities, many ethnic minorities, many civilizations that have been brutalised by others and you have to move on. You cannot perpetually stay in that place of blame, otherwise it's just a downward spiral.
Quote examples
Margaret Cho
American Comedian
My former bullies pay extra to come backstage and meet me after shows, and I pretend not to know them in front of their friends. It is the most divine pleasure to exact the revenge of the brutalized child that resides within.
Quote examples
Andre Dubus III
American Writer
I was always a sensitive, sweet kid, but I got brutalized and I became brutal. And frankly, I don't think it was my natural makeup. I don't think its anyone's natural makeup to be a violent brawler.
Quote examples
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
American Politician
I support strong sanctions and other penalties against those who aid violent extremists, brutalize their own people and have time and time again rejected calls to behave as responsible nations.
Quote examples
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
South African Activist
One of the greatest things I fear is letting down my people. I wouldn't live with that type of conscience, of having let down my people after they've been brutalized for so long.
Quote examples
Thomas Friedman
American Journalist
I'm a capitalist. I believe in capitalism. But capitalism only works if you have safety nets to deal with people who are naturally left behind and brutalized by it.
Quote examples
Opal Tometi
American Activist
We can't continue to sit on our hands and sit idly by as people are being brutalized, disenfranchised, and left out of the system.
Quote examples
Larry Wilmore
American Comedian
The fact that we live in a world where black people have to strategize so they're not brutalized by police is insane.
Quote examples
Hamid Karzai
Statesman
They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.
Quote examples
Maryanne Trump Barry
American Judge
Thugs who brutalize elderly people should be punished severely.
Example 1 of 10
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