brute
/bɹut/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.42 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Without reason or intelligence (of animals).
adj
Characteristic of unthinking animals; senseless, unreasoning (of humans).
adj
Unconnected with intelligence or thought; purely material, senseless.
adj
noun
A person with the characteristics of an unthinking animal; a coarse or brutal person, particularly one who is dim-witted.
Example Sentences
- "a brute beast"
- "A creature […] not prone / And brute as other creatures, but endued / With sanctity of reason."
- "the brute earth; the brute powers of nature"
- "a great brute farmer from Liddesdale"
- "I got the door open through brute force."
- "The two Gladiators, Kreugas and Damoxenos, a subject from Pausanias, is another work in the same grand style. There is a want of nobility both in the countenances and forms of the combatants, and the expression of brute strength is too little relieved by that of courage arid heroism. The gentlemen of the fancy too find fault with the attitudes, as contrary to the rules of boxing ; a fault to be excused in consideration of the want in Rome of an establishment like Fives' court in London."
Etymology
From Middle French brut, from Old French brut, from Latin brūtus (“dull, stupid, insensible”), an Oscan loanword, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”). Cognate with Ancient Greek βαρύς (barús), Persian گران (gerân) and Sanskrit गुरु (gurú) (English guru).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɹut/
- British English: /bɹuːt/
Usage
- Archaic
- British usage
- Transitive verb
- Obsolete
Inflected Forms
more brute (comparative)
most brute (superlative)
brutes (plural)
brutes (present, singular)
bruting (participle, present)
bruted (participle, past)
bruted (past)