brutality
Merciless harsh treatment
Brutality is savage cruelty or violence, especially when inflicted by those with power over others: police brutality, the brutality of the regime.
The word emphasizes not just harm but callousness—a disregard for suffering.
Brutalities, in the plural, names specific acts: the brutalities of war.
Violent offensive act
- beatingRepeated striking or pulsing
- bloodshedKilling and wounding
- batteryPortable electricity storage
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
massacre · carnage · atrocity · savagery · slaughter · mayhem · rampage · mauling
Oppressive, absolute governance
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- subjugationForcing into submission
- despotismAbsolute one-person rule
authoritarianism · totalitarianism · domination · suppression · enslavement · exploitation · discrimination · injustice
Showing no clemency
- pitilessLacking any compassion
- callousCruelly insensitive to others
- heartlessLacking pity or mercy
- ruthlessLacking any compassion
cold-blooded · inhumane · sadistic · vicious · barbaric · remorseless · unfeeling · malevolent
Strength or compulsion
- bluntDull or tactlessly direct
- rawIn original state
- poundingForceful repeated striking
- crushingOverwhelming in intensity
battering · hammering · smashing · impact · trauma · wounds · injuries · scars
Unpleasantly severe or rough
- relentlessContinuing without pause
- unforgivingShowing no leniency
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
- mercilessShowing no clemency
implacable · inexorable · draconian · punishing · grueling · unrelenting · extreme · unbridled
assault
Violent offensive act
torture · massacre · carnage · atrocity · savagery · slaughter · mayhem · rampage · mauling · pummeling
tyranny
Oppressive, absolute governance
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- subjugationForcing into submission
despotism · authoritarianism · totalitarianism · domination · suppression · enslavement · exploitation · discrimination · injustice · apartheid
merciless
Showing no clemency
ruthless · cold-blooded · inhumane · sadistic · vicious · barbaric · remorseless · unfeeling · malevolent · malicious
force
Strength or compulsion
crushing · battering · hammering · smashing · impact · trauma · wounds · injuries · scars · blows
harsh
Unpleasantly severe or rough
- relentlessContinuing without pause
- unforgivingShowing no leniency
- unyieldingRefusing to give way
merciless · implacable · inexorable · draconian · punishing · grueling · unrelenting · extreme · unbridled · unflinching
- crueltycruelty, inhumanity, viciousness, ruthlessness, heartlessness
- oppressionoppression, tyranny, racism, repression, secret police
- police reformpolice misconduct, body cameras, community oversight, qualified immunity, police accountability
- police relationscommunity policing, police accountability, police oversight, public trust, community outreach
- aggressionhostility, violence, attack, fight, combativeness
- policingpatrol, police powers, arrests, police officer, arrest
brutalitygentleness
Soft, kind demeanor
kindness · tenderness · compassion · humaneness · kindheartedness
brutalityhumanity
People as a whole
benignity · nobility · magnanimity · high-mindedness · charitableness
brutalitymercy
Compassion toward offenders
clemency · mercifulness · leniency · compassion · forbearance
- police brutalityUnjustified force by officers
brutalize, brutalized, brutalizing, brutalities, brutalization, brutalism