brutal

«brutal» in Mova's school dictionary: very cruel and violent — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (brutal, more brutal, most brutal)

meaning for a pupil

1) Brutal means very cruel and violent. tree →

2) Brutal means very harsh, severe or unpleasant, as with weather or a test. tree →

3) (informal) Brutal honesty or truth is said directly, even if it hurts. tree →

4) (slang) Brutal can mean really bad or tough: «That maths test was brutal.» tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons brutal describes cruel rulers, wars and punishments. In everyday talk children and teenagers use it for anything hard or unfair, like a long run or a strict teacher. In stories it tells the reader that a character or event is cruel. Phrases: a brutal attack, brutal honesty, brutally cold, a brutal winter.

examples

• The brutal king punished anyone who disagreed. tree →
• The soldiers carried out a brutal attack on the village. tree →
• The winter in Canada was brutal, with temperatures of minus thirty. tree →
• (informal) That cross-country run was brutal! tree →
• With brutal honesty, my friend said my drawing looked like a potato. tree →
• The wolf's brutal teeth tore the meat. tree →
• It was a brutally hot day. tree →
• Hook itched to do it, but it seemed too brutal. tree →

note

Adverb brutally, noun brutality. Related: brute (a cruel or very strong person or animal). In formal writing use it for real cruelty; the «really hard» meaning is informal.

In the corpora

• Sugar cane plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean were worked mainly by enslaved Africans, in brutal conditions where many died young.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «brutal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.