as in brute
having or showing the nature and appetites of a lower animal
an apocalyptic sci-fi classic in which a lone drifter fights to avoid the bestial existence lived by the mass of survivors
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bestial
Eggers certainly loves the guy, and Skarsgård’s ultra-committed performance allows the film to enjoy a contagious pleasure in returning the vampire archetype to its more bestial origins.
—
David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
The rape/bestial fetish is framed as a fantasy imagined by a woman, curiously beginning as an assault.
—Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 31 July 2024
An American heiress, Lucy (Lisbeth Hummel) shows up, destined to marry the horse-loving son of the manor, whose family is embroiled in significant turmoil over a Cardinal arriving to bless the newlyweds (apparently as a way to lift a bestial curse).
—Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 31 July 2024
Movies tend to anthropomorphize their dogs by projecting recognizably human qualities onto them, but Bob Peterson and Pete Docter’s script embraces the less bestial parts of being an animal.
—Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 5 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for bestial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bestial
Adjective
-
Forces allied with the government and armed civilians responded with brute force.—
-
The Pistons are young, competitive, brute, have already formed one of the league’s most in-your-face identities and now have experience, too.—
Adjective
-
When local Officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she’s left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.—
-
Bruno Silva via first-round KO This finish was absolutely brutal.—
Adjective
-
It is estimated that there are currently between 60 and 100 million stray and feral cats across America, and most of them live their life in the streets without ever even making it to an animal shelter.—
-
The digital nomad stereotype persists: feral twenty-somethings earning $2,000 monthly in Thailand.—
Cite this Entry
“Bestial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bestial. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share