bru‧tal‧ize (also brutalise British English) /ˈbruːtəl-aɪz/ verb [transitive usually passive]

1. to affect someone so badly that they lose their normal human feelings:
He was brutalized by his experiences in jail.

2. to treat someone in a cruel or violent way:
Demonstrators claimed they had been brutalized by police officers.
—brutalization /ˌbruːtl-aɪˈzeɪʃən $ -tl-ə-/ noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲