Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An animal other than a human; a beast.
- noun A brutal, crude, or insensitive person.
- adjective Of or relating to animals other than humans.
- adjective Characteristic of a brute, especially.
- adjective Entirely physical.
- adjective Lacking or showing a lack of reason or intelligence.
- adjective Savage; cruel.
- adjective Unremittingly severe.
- adjective Coarse; brutish.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Senseless; unconscious.
- Wanting reason; animal; not human: as, a brute beast.
- Characteristic of animals; of brutal character or quality.
- Blunt or dull of sentiment; without sensibility; rough; uncivilized; insensible.
- Not associated with intelligence or intellectual effort; unintelligent; irrational.
- Harsh; crude.
- Synonyms Brute, Brutish, Brutal, Beastly, Bestial. Brute is the most general of these words, and remains nearest to the distinguishing difference between man and beast, irrationality: as, brute force. Brutish is especially uncultured, stupid, groveling: as, brutes and still more brutish men. Brutal implies cruelty or lack of feeling: as, brutal language or conduct. Beastly expresses that which is altogether unworthy of a man, especially that which is filthy and disgusting in conduct or manner of life. Bestial is applied chiefly to that which is carnal, sensual, lascivious: as, bestial vices or appetites.
- noun A beast, especially one of the higher quadrupeds; any animal as distinguished from man.
- noun A brutal person; a savage in disposition or manners; a low-bred, unfeeling person.
- noun Nautical, a yacht that to some extent sacrifices fineness of lines to fullness of form, so that great initial stability and sail-carrying power are obtained.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To report; to bruit.
- adjective Not having sensation; senseless; inanimate; unconscious; without intelligence or volition.
- adjective Not possessing reason, irrational; unthinking.
- adjective Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, a brute beast. Hence: Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless.
- adjective Having the physical powers predominating over the mental; coarse; unpolished; unintelligent.
- adjective rare Rough; uncivilized; unfeeling.
- adjective The application of predominantly physical effort to achieve a goal that could be accomplished with less effort if more carefully considered. Figuratively, repetitive or strenuous application of an obvious or simple tactic, as contrasted with a more clever stratagem achieving the same goal with less effort; -- .
- noun An animal destitute of human reason; any animal not human; esp. a quadruped; a beast.
- noun A brutal person; a savage in heart or manners; as unfeeling or coarse person.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Strong,
blunt , andspontaneous - noun archaic, slang, UK One who has not yet
matriculated . - verb Obsolete spelling of
bruit .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a cruelly rapacious person
- adjective resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility
- noun a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
-
At certain intervals his mania came upon him, the strange hallucination of something four-footed, the persistent fancy that the brute in him had now grown so large, so insatiable, that it had taken everything, even to his very self, his own identity -- that he had literally _become the brute_.
-
"How I hate the man who talks about the 'brute creation,' with an ugly emphasis on _brute_ ....
-
His whole appearance at such times excited disgust in that lady, and she would leave his presence as soon as possible, using even the term brute to express her disgust; Matthias too, would attempt to rouse him on such occasions, to a sense of impropriety, by exclaiming, "Why, Elijah! what are you saying, what are you about?" while other persons would remove his hand, and hold him.
-
The retired, four-star army general who has taken over as secretary of veterans affairs is vowing what he calls a brute force effort to reform his department.
-
He said any new fight would require what he called brute force.
-
He said, any new fight would require what he called brute force.
-
We discern this fact with curious clearness when we look at other people, but it is nowhere quite so evident as in what we call the brute creation.
Schwartz: A History From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray
-
"I don't know what you call the brute," said Ukridge.
Love Among the Chickens A Story of the Haps and Mishaps on an English Chicken Farm
-
"I don't know what you call the brute," said Ukridge.
-
This latter reaches far down into the levels of what we call brute life.
bilby commented on the word brute
Et tu, cruel rapaciousness.
October 25, 2009