brutality

English

Etymology

From brutal +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹuːˈtælɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (California, US) IPA^(key): /bɹuˈtælɪɾi/

Noun

brutality (countable and uncountable, plural brutalities)

1. The state of being brutal.
2. A cruel or savage act.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]?  Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

3. The use of excessive physical force, often in the form of violence.

   police brutality

   school brutality

Derived terms

• police brutality

Translations

a state of being brutal

Arabic: وحشية sg (Wahshiya) Armenian: վայրագություն (hy) (vayragutʻyun) Azerbaijani: zalımlıq (az) Catalan: brutalitat f Chechen: къизалла (qʼizalla) Czech: brutalita (cs) f Dutch: wreedheid (nl) Esperanto: brutaleco Finnish: raakuus (fi), julmuus (fi), brutaalius (fi) French: brutalité (fr) f Galician: brutalidade (gl) f German: Brutalität (de) f Greek: αγριότητα (el) f (agriótita) Ancient: θηριότης f (thēriótēs) Hindi: बर्बरता f (barbartā), क्रूरता f (krūrtā), निर्ममता f (nirmamtā) Hungarian: brutalitás (hu) Irish: brúidiúlacht f Italian: brutalità (it) Luxembourgish: Brutalitéit f Norwegian: Bokmål: brutalitet m Nynorsk: brutalitet m Ottoman Turkish: حیوانلق (hayvanlık) Polish: brutalizm (pl) m, brutalność (pl) f Portuguese: brutalidade (pt) f Romanian: brutalitate (ro) f Russian: жесто́кость (ru) m (žestókostʹ), зве́рство (ru) n (zvérstvo) Scottish Gaelic: brùidealachd f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: брута́лно̄ст f Roman: brutálnōst (sh) f Spanish: brutalidad (es) f Swedish: brutalitet (sv) c Ukrainian: брутальність (uk) f (brutalʹnistʹ)

a cruel act

Armenian: վայրագություն (hy) (vayragutʻyun) Finnish: raakuus (fi), julmuus (fi) Polish: okrucieństwo (pl) n Romanian: brutalitate (ro) f Ukrainian: бузувірство (uk) n (buzuvirstvo)

The use of excessive physical force, often in the form of violence

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: väkivalta (fi) French: brutalité (fr) f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Brutalität (de) f Hungarian: brutalitás (hu) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Polish: brutalność (pl) f Romanian: brutalitate (ro) f Slovak: please add this translation if you can Turkish: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: брутальність (uk) f (brutalʹnistʹ), надмірність f (nadmirnistʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: (please verify) жестокост (bg) f (žestokost), (please verify) бруталност (bg) f (brutalnost)