brute

Use brute in a sentence

adjective

The definition of brute is something animal-like or someone who does not have the ability to reason.
An example of brute used as an adjective is brute strength, which is extreme, physical strength.

noun

A brute is defined as a savage, insensitive or uncivilized person.
A person who is unkind and cruel is an example of a brute.

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"brute." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute>.

APA Style

brute. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute

brute

lacking the ability to reason: a brute beast
having no consciousness or feelings; insensate: the brute force of nature
of or like an animal; specif., brutal, cruel, gross, sensual, stupid, etc.

Origin of brute

Middle English and Old French brut from Classical Latin brutus, heavy, dull, irrational, via Osco-Umbrian from Indo-European base an unverified form gwer-, heavy from source Classical Greek barys, Classical Latin gravis

an animal
a person who is brutal or very stupid, gross, sensual, etc.

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MLA Style

"brute." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute>.

APA Style

brute. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute

brute

noun

An animal other than a human; a beast.
A brutal, crude, or insensitive person.

adjective

Of or relating to animals other than humans: “None of the brute creation requires more than food and shelter” ( Henry David Thoreau )
Characteristic of a brute, especially:
a. Entirely physical: brute force.
b. Lacking or showing a lack of reason or intelligence: a brute impulse.
c. Savage; cruel: brute coercion.
d. Unremittingly severe: was driven to steal food through brute necessity.
Coarse; brutish.

Origin of brute

From Middle English nonhuman from Old French brut from Latin brūtus stupid ; see g^werə-¹ in Indo-European roots.

Related Forms:

brut′ism
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"brute." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute>.

APA Style

brute. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/brute

Adjective

(comparative more brute, superlative most brute)

Without reason or intelligence (of animals). [from 15th c.]
a brute beast
Characteristic of unthinking animals; senseless, unreasoning (of humans). [from 16th c.]
Being unconnected with intelligence or thought; purely material, senseless. [from 16th c.]
the brute earth; the brute powers of nature
Crude, unpolished. [from 17th c.]
Strong, blunt, and spontaneous.
I punched him with brute force.
Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless.
brute violence

Noun

(plural brutes)

(now archaic) An animal seen as being without human reason; a senseless beast. [from 17th c.]
Someone with the characteristics of an unthinking animal; a coarse or brutal person. [from 17th c.]
One of them was a hulking brute of a man, heavily tattooed and with a hardened face that practically screamed "I just got out of jail."
(archaic, slang, UK, Cambridge University) One who has not yet matriculated.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present brutes, present participle bruting, simple past and past participle bruted)

Obsolete spelling of bruit.

Origin

From Middle French brut, from Latin brūtus (“dull, stupid, insensible”), an Oscan loanword, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us. Cognate with Ancient Greek βαρύς (barus), Persian (gerân) and Sanskrit गुरु (gurú).

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.