bes·tial

(bĕs′chəl, bēs′-)

adj.

1. Of or resembling a beast: a bestial roar.

2. Marked by brutality or depravity; brutal or depraved: capable of the most bestial acts imaginable.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia, beast.]

bes′tial·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bestial

(ˈbɛstɪəl)

adj

1. brutal or savage

2. sexually depraved; carnal

3. lacking in refinement; brutish

4. of or relating to a beast

[C14: from Late Latin bestiālis, from Latin bestia beast]

ˈbestially adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bes•tial

(ˈbɛs tʃəl, ˈbis-)

adj.

1. of, pertaining to, or having the form of a beast.

2. lacking reason or intelligence.

3. debased; inhuman.

[1350–1400; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Late Latin bēstiālis; see beast]

bes′tial•ly, adv.

Bestial

collective term for domestic animals, 1393; replaced by cattle in the 17th century.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

bestial - resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility; "beastly desires"; "a bestial nature"; "brute force"; "a dull and brutish man"; "bestial treatment of prisoners"

brute, brutish, beastly, brutal

inhumane - lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion; "humans are innately inhumane; this explains much of the misery and suffering in the world"; "biological weapons are considered too inhumane to be used"

bestial

adjective brutal, low, animal, gross, savage, beastly, primitive, degraded, sensual, vile, sordid, barbaric, inhuman, depraved, carnal, brutish, barbarous, scungy (Austral. & N.Z.), beastlike the bestial conditions into which the city has sunk

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

bestial

adjective

Showing or suggesting a disposition to be violently destructive without scruple or restraint:

barbarous, cruel, fell, feral, ferocious, fierce, inhuman, savage, truculent, vicious, wolfish.

Translations

brutal

bestial

belluino bestiale

bestial

[ˈbestɪəl] ADJ → bestial

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bestial

[ˈbɛstiəl] adj (= brutish) [behaviour, situation] → bestial(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bestial

adj acts, cruelty → bestialisch, tierisch; person, look, appearance (= cruel) → brutal; (= carnal) → tierisch

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bestial

[ˈbɛstɪəl] adj → bestiale

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bestial

a. bestial, irracional, brutal.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

So it came as a mighty shock to the girl when she heard the hated tones of the man whom she had knocked overboard from the prahu two nights before, and realized that the bestial Malay sat close beside her, and that she was again in his power.

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Others of the grinning and chattering monkey-men, all as stark of clothes and bestial of appearance as Balatta, had wanted his body for the roasting oven.

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There was something horrible and bestial in the fleeting glance they threw at the riders and in the malevolent expression with which, after a glance at Kutuzov, the soldier with the sores immediately turned away and went on with what he was doing.

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Crazed with jealousy and rage, blind and bestial with all the elemental passions of insulted manhood, I entered the house and sprang up the stairs to the door of my wife's chamber.

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Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of responsibility for the loss.

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He went down beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still working his gun and with his face toward his antagonist.

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The bestial faces, daubed with color--the huge mouths and flabby hanging lips--the yellow teeth, sharp filed--the rolling, demon eyes--the shining naked bodies--the cruel spears.

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Here was the appearance and the scent of a man-thing and Numa had tasted of human flesh and learned that though not the most palatable it was certainly by far the easiest to secure, yet there was that in the bestial growls of the strange creature which reminded him of formidable antagonists and gave him pause, while his hunger and the odor of the hot flesh of Bara goaded him almost to madness.

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The eyes were bestial, yellow-green, the pupils dilating and narrowing with sharp swiftness as they sought about among the lights and glooms of the room.

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And when I did learn it, I was courageous enough not to retreat back to my bestial life at the machine.

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He stood glaring at his opponent, his face contracted into a snarl, his whole appearance hideous, almost bestial. Mr.

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He would tend him carefully, feed him well, protect him as only Tarzan of the Apes could protect his own, and teach him out of his half human, half bestial lore the secrets of the jungle from its rotting surface vegetation to the high tossed pinnacles of the forest's upper terraces.

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