brutify

A teacher's dull lecture can brutify even the most curious student.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To make brutal, coarse, or stupid: "brutify" means to cause someone to become brutal, uncivilized, or less intelligent; to degrade or debase a person's character or mind.
   • To render animalistic: It can also mean to reduce someone to a state resembling that of a brute or animal, lacking reason or refinement.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Constant exposure to violence can brutify a person's sensibilities. (To make someone less sensitive and more brutal.)
  • The harsh conditions of the prison seemed to brutify the inmates over time. (To degrade their character to a more animalistic state.)
  • He feared that the endless manual labor would brutify his intellect. (To make his mind dull or stupid.)

Advanced Usage

• "to brutify oneself": to intentionally lower one's own standards or behavior to a more primitive or coarse level.

  • In order to survive in the wilderness, he had to brutify himself and abandon civilized habits. (To adapt by becoming more brutish.)

• "to be brutified by circumstances": to have one's character or nature degraded by external conditions.

  • The soldiers were brutified by the horrors of war. (Their humanity was diminished by traumatic experiences.)

Variants and Related Words

• Brutification (n): the process or result of making someone or something brutal or stupid.
  • The brutification of society through reality television is a growing concern. (The act of making society less refined.)
• Brutish (adj): resembling a brute; savage, coarse, or stupid.
  • His brutish behavior shocked everyone at the dinner table. (Acting like a brute.)
• Brutality (n): cruel and violent behavior.
  • The brutality of the regime was well-documented. (Extreme cruelty.)

Synonyms

• Dehumanize: to deprive of human qualities such as kindness or compassion.
• Degrade: to lower in dignity or quality.
• Brutalize: to make brutal or cruel; to treat with extreme violence.

Phrasal Verbs

• Brutify down: (rare) to reduce to a lower, more brutish state.
  • The system seemed designed to brutify down the population. (To systematically degrade them.)

Related Idioms

• "To bring out the brute": to cause someone to act in a brutish or violent manner.
  • The constant provocation brought out the brute in him. (Revealed his brutish side.)
• "To sink to the level of a beast": to behave in a way that is no longer human or civilized.
  • After years of abuse, he sank to the level of a beast. (Became brutish.)