brute Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a cruelly rapacious person
beast; savage; wolf; wildcat.
noun a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
animate being; beast; animal; fauna; creature.
adjective satellite resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility
brutish; bestial; brutal; beastly.
- beastly desires
- a bestial nature
- brute force
- a dull and brutish man
- bestial treatment of prisoners

F. brut, nasc., brute, fem., raw, rough, rude, brutish, L. brutus stupid, irrational: cf. It. & Sp. bruto.

Not having sensation; senseless; inanimate; unconscious; without intelligence or volition; as, the brute earth; the brute powers of nature.
Not possessing reason, irrational; unthinking; as, a brute beast; the brute creation.
A creature . . . not prone And brute as other creatures, but endued With sanctity of reason. Milton.
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of, a brute beast. Hence: Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless; as, brute violence. Macaulay.
The influence of capital and mere brute labor. Playfair.
Having the physical powers predominating over the mental; coarse; unpolished; unintelligent.
A great brute farmer from Liddesdale. Sir W. Scott.
Rough; uncivilized; unfeeling. R.

An animal destitute of human reason; any animal not human; esp. a quadruped; a beast.
Brutes may be considered as either aëral, terrestrial, aquatic, or amphibious. Locke.
A brutal person; a savage in heart or manners; as unfeeling or coarse person.
An ill-natured brute of a husband. Franklin.
Syn. -- See Beast.