1
as in to humiliate
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
even three years in a prison camp did not brutalize him
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
Red Cross workers reported that prisoners had been brutalized
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of brutalize
Which ones brutalize a fan base, scarring them for generations?
—
Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 19 June 2025
By contrast, Pacific Palisades, another area that was brutalized by fire, had already established an official record of its cultural heritage via SurveyLA, a historic resources survey conducted by the city.
—Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025
Guards, many of them teenage cadets from police academies, are reportedly ordered to humiliate and brutalize detainees, some barely older than themselves.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 20 May 2025
Then there’s Danaher, the worst of all, which has been brutalized by a lack of Chinese biotech offerings.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutalize
Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 19 June 2025
By contrast, Pacific Palisades, another area that was brutalized by fire, had already established an official record of its cultural heritage via SurveyLA, a historic resources survey conducted by the city.
—Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025
Guards, many of them teenage cadets from police academies, are reportedly ordered to humiliate and brutalize detainees, some barely older than themselves.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 20 May 2025
Then there’s Danaher, the worst of all, which has been brutalized by a lack of Chinese biotech offerings.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for brutalize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brutalize
Verb
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Over 24 cycles, the show humiliated hundreds of young, naïve women (and, briefly, men) in the name of entertainment.—
Emily Palmer Heller,
Vulture,
9 July 2025
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Soldatov said that along this path was the 2008 war in Georgia, which showed the Russian army would not be humiliated anymore.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 July 2025
Verb
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At the time of her death, Sardinha was studying to become a counselor with the hope of working with women who had been abused, her mother told Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Leversen.—
Sean Emery,
Oc Register,
25 July 2025
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According to prosecutors, Maxwell helped Jeffrey Epstein recruit, groom, and abuse minor girls from about 1994 to about 2004, including girls as young as 14 years old.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
25 July 2025
Verb
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Each of us must master the art of disagreeing without dehumanizing.—
F. Willis Johnson,
Twin Cities,
10 July 2025
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Seeing how she was broken down and dehumanized through torture and isolation, definitely reflected the lengths humans will go to in order to survive.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
10 July 2025
Verb
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During his childhood, he was isolated and bullied and eventually became addicted to heroin and struggled with his weight.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
20 July 2025
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Edmondson bullied Lapin the entire round and the Ukrainian looked gas.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
19 July 2025
Verb
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The health secretary said vegetable oils, like canola and soybean, are poisoning Americans and driving the obesity epidemic.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
8 July 2025
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After a week of deliberation, the jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with individual servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
7 July 2025
Verb
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Women are often mistreated with aggressive surgical techniques that can be avoided.—
Nkem Osian,
Baltimore Sun,
23 July 2025
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In court, McGuire's parents, Debbie and Glenn McGuire, alleged that Young mistreated their daughter, per ABC.—
Nicole Acosta,
People.com,
18 July 2025
Verb
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In Liberia, especially, the Peace Corps volunteers were repulsed by the ways that Americo-Liberians — the descendants of the Black Americans who founded the country — oppressed indigenous ethnic groups.—
Jonathan Zimmerman,
New York Daily News,
16 July 2025
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The Sámi people were oppressed for centuries by the powers that ruled and exploited their lands, including bans of the use of their native tongues and efforts to suppress their culture.—
Christiaan Hetzner,
Fortune,
15 July 2025
Verb
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Luis Leon, who received political asylum in the United States in 1987 after being tortured under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime, misplaced his wallet that held his legal residency card, according to Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper The Morning Call.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
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Editor’s Pick From assassination plots to torture programs, the agency’s darkest operations have always been at the President’s behest.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
16 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Brutalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brutalize. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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