List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 56

SYNONYMS: brute, animal, brutish, brutal, beastly, bestial.
These adjectives apply to what is more characteristic of lower animals than of human beings.

Brute, the least derogatory, stresses a lack of the understanding or sensibility regarded as distinguishing people from animals: brute force.
Animal emphasizes physical nature as opposed to intellect or spirit: animal vitality.
Brutish stresses marked lack of human refinement and sensitivity: He had the look of a dull and brutish man.
Brutal emphasizes unfeeling cruelty: the brutal amusements of the bull baiting or the cockpit.
Both beastly and bestial imply degeneracy or moral degradation: indulging beastly desires; bestial and sordid drunkenness.
Beastly, however, is often used to characterize what is merely very disagreeable: What a beastly storm!