How to Use brutalize in a Sentence

brutalize

verb
  • The prisoners claimed to have been brutalized by their captors.
  • In which she was brutalized, stripped naked, and made to walk around with a look of misery on her face?
    — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 27 Feb. 2018
  • My respect is instead for those who died and were brutalized at his command.
    — Evan Mawarire, Time, 6 Sep. 2019
  • Cities have been locked down and economies brutalized as governments try to prevent the spread.
    — Anna Edney, Bloomberg.com, 8 May 2020
  • There are poor and unhoused, and people brutalized or killed by police.
    — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 7 July 2023
  • Trump has brutalized the media and is a big reason trust has eroded in the fourth estate.
    — Nolan Finley, Twin Cities, 31 Jan. 2025
  • People were brutalized by burgers and de-limbed by doughnuts.
    — Kat Bein, Billboard, 9 Jan. 2018
  • Scared for the victims and their families who were stalked and brutalized in the most vicious way.
    — Olivia B. Waxman, TIME, 23 Oct. 2024
  • The last time a Padres bullpen was brutalized like this over a five-game stretch was in 1977.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 May 2025
  • Ramón has seized power and is now starving and brutalizing the people.
    — Christine Dolen, miamiherald, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Told they’d be brutalized by the conquering forces, mothers jumped from cliffs with their infants.
    — Michael Judge, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Again, not too thick and not too thin, but just right in protecting those tender areas that rental boots tend to brutalize.
    — Jonathan Thompson, Travel + Leisure, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Black people are still being brutalized and murdered by the police.
    — Gayle Fleming, CNN, 20 Feb. 2023
  • She was brutalized and mocked by many in the media for daring to criticize the great Karolyi.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 Mar. 2018
  • But the biggest question is why this community was brutalized in the first place.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 16 Dec. 2024
  • Pitching was supposed to be the hallmark of this year’s club, but it’s been brutalized because of injuries.
    — Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
  • John Lewis, who walked across a bridge knowing that there were police waiting to brutalize him on the other side.
    — Nicole Chavez, CNN, 7 Dec. 2022
  • In New York, guards who brutalized prisoners or covered it up were rarely fired.
    — Katie Moore, Kansas City Star, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The Fed’s aggressive rate hikes brutalized any poor soul lugging a big balance.
    — Nerdwallet, Twin Cities, 27 Jan. 2025
  • After a few kickouts, Lesnar got the upper hand and brutalized Rollins.
    — Aaron Oster, baltimoresun.com, 12 Aug. 2019
  • Jack of all trades The Titans have been brutalized by tight ends all season – both great and middling alike.
    — John Holler, USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire, 1 Dec. 2019
  • The Ramsey family have been so brutalized for close to 30 years.
    — Addie Morfoot, Variety, 24 Nov. 2024
  • The one who was playing peacefully in the streets, only to be arrested and brutalized.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Art the Clown likes brutalizing women.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Being raped hadn’t just stripped Sandi of her sense of control — she’d been held captive, brutalized and made to fear for her life.
    — cleveland.com, 26 Sep. 2019
  • They were greeted as usurpers of jobs and, in the West, then still a lawless frontier, many were brutalized and massacred.
    — Ligaya Mishan David Chow, New York Times, 19 Sep. 2023
  • And the middle of Seattle’s line was just brutalized by Aaron Donald, who had three sacks.
    — Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times, 17 Dec. 2017
  • The story was about a young black man brutalized by the police on video, with an indictment decision pending — but which one?
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2016
  • Then there’s Danaher, the worst of all, which has been brutalized by a lack of Chinese biotech offerings.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2025
  • Perhaps Tyndall did not brutalize young women the way that Nassar did.
    — Robin Abcarian, latimes.com, 17 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brutalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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