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Gruesome vs Brutal - What's the difference?

gruesome | brutal |

As adjectives the difference between gruesome and brutal

is that gruesome is repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or ghastly while brutal is (savagely violent)Savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel.

gruesome

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or ghastly
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 6
  • In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige of flesh gone from the bones to which still clung the mildewed and moldered remnants of what had once been clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar gruesome thing, but smaller, while in a tiny cradle near-by was a third, a wee mite of a skeleton.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=May 04 , title=Bin Laden was unarmed when shot dead citation , passage=Jay Carney said that the US was considering whether to release photos of bin Laden after he was killed on Sunday but that the photos were gruesome and could be inflammatory.}}

    brutal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (senseid)Savagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel
  • Crude or unfeeling in manner or speech.
  • Harsh; unrelenting
  • Disagreeably precise or penetrating
  • (music, figuratively) In extreme metal, to describe the speed of the music and the density of riffs.
  • Synonyms

    * barbaric * cold-blooded * savage * vicious

    Antonyms

    * gentle * kind