Bestial
adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Cattle. Scotland, obsolete, plural, plural-only
"[…] much must depend upon the way in which bestial are bought or reared, and the state of the markets when they are sold."
- 1 Beast-like. figuratively, literally
"Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."
- 1 resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it."
Etymology
From Middle English bestial, from Old French bestial, from Late Latin bēstiālis, from Latin bēstia (“beast”) (whence English beast).
From Middle Scots bestiall, from Middle English bestaile, from Old French bestaille, from Late Latin bēstiālia; later reinforced and remodelled on Middle French bestial, itself from Late Latin bēstiālis.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.