brutalize
Treat with cruelty
To brutalize is to treat with cruelty or violence, often repeatedly: Years of war had brutalized the population.
The word can mean to make brutal—hardening someone through exposure to violence—or simply to subject them to it.
Prison conditions brutalized inmates rather than rehabilitating them.
The British spelling is brutalise.
Fierce and untamed
- viciousCruelly aggressive in nature
- barbaricSavagely cruel, uncivilized
- mercilessShowing no clemency
- sadisticFinding pleasure in cruelty
inhumane · pitiless · ferocious · bestial · monstrous · fiendish · bloodthirsty · cold-blooded
savage
Fierce and untamed
sadistic · inhumane · pitiless · ferocious · bestial · monstrous · fiendish · bloodthirsty · cold-blooded · remorseless
harden
Make or become firm
- numbLacking physical sensation
- coarsenMake or become rough
- dehumanizeStrip of dignity
callous · inure · toughen · blunt · deaden · condition · traumatize · warp · corrupt · damage
subjugate
Bring under dominion
- tyrannizeRule by oppression
- dominateControl through superior strength
- persecuteHarass cruelly, persistently
enslave · suppress · intimidate · coerce · repress · crush · trample · overpower · subdue · victimize
- police brutalityUnjustified force by officers
brutality, brutalized, brutalizing, brutalizes, brutalised, brutalise, brutalises, brutalising