verb
- to make or become brutal or savage; to degrade to the level of a brute animal
Usage: literary; archaic
Examples
- Years of hardship threatened to imbrute his once-gentle nature.
- The harsh conditions of war imbruted the soldiers.
- She feared that constant violence would imbrute the children.
- His cruelty seemed designed to imbrute those around him.
- The novel explores how poverty can imbrute the human spirit.