What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Brute vs Barbarian - What's the difference?

brute | barbarian | Synonyms |

As adjectives the difference between brute and barbarian

is that brute is without reason or intelligence (of animals) while barbarian is relating to people, countries or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.

As nouns the difference between brute and barbarian

is that brute is an animal seen as being without human reason; a senseless beast while barbarian is an uncivilized or uncultured person, originally compared to the hellenistic Greco-Roman civilisation; often associated with fighting or other such shows of strength.

As a verb brute

is obsolete spelling of lang=en.

brute

English

(wikipedia brute)

Adjective

(more)
  • Without reason or intelligence (of animals).
    • a brute beast
  • Characteristic of unthinking animals; senseless, unreasoning (of humans).
  • * Milton
    • A creature not prone / And brute as other creatures, but endued / With sanctity of reason.
  • Being unconnected with intelligence or thought; purely material, senseless.
    • the brute''' earth; the '''brute powers of nature
  • Crude, unpolished.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • a great brute farmer from Liddesdale
  • *
  • Strong, blunt, and spontaneous.
    • I punched him with brute force.
  • Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless.
    • brute violence

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 1714 , (Bernard Mandeville), The Fable of the Bees :
    • they laid before them how unbecoming it was the Dignity of such sublime Creatures to be sollicitous about gratifying those Appetites, which they had in common with Brutes , and at the same time unmindful of those higher qualities that gave them the preeminence over all visible Beings.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.17:
    • But if he lives badly, he will, in the next life, be a woman; if he (or she) persists in evil-doing, he (or she) will become a brute , and go on through transmigrations until at last reason conquers.
  • A person with the characteristics of an unthinking animal; a coarse or brutal person.
    • One of them was a hulking brute of a man, heavily tattooed and with a hardened face that practically screamed "I just got out of jail."
  • *
    • She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  • (archaic, slang, UK, Cambridge University) One who has not yet matriculated.

    • Derived terms

    * brutal * brutality * brute force * brutish

    Verb

    (brut)

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    barbarian

    English

    (wikipedia barbarian)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Relating to people, countries or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.

    • Synonyms

    * barbaric * barbarous

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An uncivilized or uncultured person, originally compared to the hellenistic Greco-Roman civilisation; often associated with fighting or other such shows of strength.
  • (derogatory) Someone from a developing country or backward culture.
  • A warrior, clad in fur or leather, associated with sword and sorcery stories.
  • (derogatory) A person destitute of culture; a Philistine.
  • A cruel, savage, brutal person; one without pity or humanity.
  • * Philips
    • Thou fell barbarian .

    Related terms

    * barbarism * barbarity * barbarize English reduplications