brute

Word family

brute1 /bruːt/ noun [countableC]

VIOLENTCRUELa man who is cruel, violent, and not sensitive 无人性的家伙，残酷的人

Examples from the Corpus

brute• He looked at her white face and the dark fear in her eyes and felt a brute.• She had a husband, a great brawny brute of an ex R.A.F. pilot who knocked her about.• a drunken brute• Milly had a husband -- a great brute of a man who knocked her about.• Nomatterhow he had changed - if indeed he had changed - that man had once been a sadistic brute.• It was therefore with a fit companion that I tackled the brute for a fourth attempt.• She spun round and screamed, "Leave him alone, you brute!''

brute2 adjectiveadj

1 brute force/strength physical strength, rather than intelligence and careful thinking 蛮力，蛮劲

Discussion can be more effective than the use of brute force.

讨论会比蛮干有用。

Examples from the Corpus

brute force/strength• And let's not limit the language to pictures of thunder and brute strength.• But like men, chimps do not rise entirely on brute strength.• Their only ultimate recourse is to deal with each other by brute force.• Was brute force and intimidation all they knew?• Even his strong-man routine seems devoid of any intelligence or style and focuses, instead, upon brute force and muscle.• Wado employs very light and fast techniques, preferring evasion to meeting brute force head on.• Teravainen belonged to the brute force school; off the tee, he was as long as anybody.• Henry Cooper used brute strength to promote after-shave.

2 [only before noun] simple and not involving any other facts or qualities 纯粹的，绝对的

The brute fact is that the situation will not improve.

情况不会好转，这是赤裸裸的事实。

brute stupidity

绝对的愚蠢

Examples from the Corpus

brute• For him, the whale was a brute beast which provided the source of his income.• What they see is the brute fact of several thousand uncounted votes that would have made a difference.• Even his strong-man routine seems devoid of any intelligence or style and focuses, instead, upon brute force and muscle.• Instead of brute force, the clever approach would be to attack the weakest point.• Low, relentless, brute power.• The brute reality is that there is no political will for a repeat military operation to finish the job.• But it is also a story of brute resolve and drive, and courage at a crunch.• But like men, chimps do not rise entirely on brute strength.

Bru·ten /ˈbruːteɪ/

nEt tu, Brute?Brute? Et tu and you, Brutus? quote a phrase from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, used by Caesar when he realizes that even his good friend Brutush has betrayed betray him and is going to kill him → Caesar, Julius

Origin brute2

(1400-1500) French brut “rough”, from Latin brutus “heavy, stupid”