Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To make brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman: To cause someone or something to lose humane qualities, becoming cruel or insensitive.
   • To treat brutally: To subject someone to cruel and violent treatment.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To become brutal or insensitive and unfeeling: To undergo a process where one loses compassion and becomes cruel.

Usage

• As a transitive verb, "brutalize" typically takes a direct object (e.g., or ).
• As an intransitive verb, it describes a change of state and does not take a direct object (e.g., ).
• The word often describes the psychological or moral effect of sustained violence, hardship, or cruel systems on individuals or groups.

Examples

• Transitive verb (to make brutal):
  • The horrors of war can brutalize even the most gentle souls.
  • A corrupt system can brutalize its citizens, stripping away their empathy.
• Transitive verb (to treat brutally):
  • The guards were accused of trying to brutalize the prisoners.
  • He claimed the police brutalized him during the arrest.
• Intransitive verb (to become brutal):
  • After years in the violent gang, he began to brutalize.
  • Constant exposure to such cruelty risks causing one to brutalize.

Advanced Usage

• In sociological or political discourse: Used to describe the dehumanizing effects of institutions, poverty, or conflict.
  • The debate centered on how prolonged incarceration might brutalize inmates.
• In a reflexive sense: Sometimes used reflexively to mean "to allow oneself to become brutal."
  • He feared he would brutalize himself by seeking revenge.

Variants and Related Words

• Brutalization (noun): The act or process of making or becoming brutal.
  • The brutalization of the soldiers was a tragic consequence of the conflict.
• Brutal (adjective): Savagely violent, cruel, or harsh.
  • The attack was particularly brutal.
• Brutality (noun): Savage physical violence; great cruelty.
  • The brutality of the regime was widely condemned.

Synonyms

• Dehumanize: To deprive of positive human qualities.
• Desensitize: To make less sensitive or reactive, especially to violence.
• Savage: (verb) To attack ferociously.
• Mistreat: To treat badly or cruelly.

Phrasal Verbs

(This word does not commonly form phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms that center on the word "brutalize" itself.)

Verb

1. become brutal or insensitive and unfeeling
2. make brutal, unfeeling, or inhuman
   • Life in the camps had brutalized him
3. treat brutally