bestial
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈbɛs.ti.əl/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈbɛs.tʃəl/, /ˈbis-/
Adjective

bestial

  1. (literally and figuratively) Beast-like
    • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act II, Scene 3,
      Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.
    • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, lines 753-4, [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_(1674)/Book_IV]
      By thee adulterous lust was driven from men /
      Among the bestial herds to range […]
    • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,
      This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone.
Synonyms Related terms Translations
  • German: tierisch
  • Portuguese: bestial
  • Russian: ско́тский
  • Spanish: bestial, animalesco
Noun
  1. (Scotland, obsolete) Cattle.
    • 1845, The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Forfar, Kincardine (page 94)
      […] much must depend upon the way in which bestial are bought or reared, and the state of the markets when they are sold.



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