brutally

brutal +‎ -ly

brutally (comparative more brutally, superlative most brutally)

1. In a brutal manner; viciously, barbarically.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 134:

     "You sit there," said Henry brutally.

   • 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France‎:

     England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.

   • 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75:

     And this year, some of the granite facades have a new addition - the blue and yellow of the flag of Ukraine. It's hardly surprising to see the Scots, a nation more attuned to independence than some, showing solidarity with a country brutally invaded by Russia.

2. In a direct way that does not attempt to hide, disguise or mask unpleasantness; directly.

   He was not an expert but he was brutally honest by saying he couldn’t help the customer find a solution.

   • 2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 47:

     Beeching concludes, rather brutally, that "a high proportion of stopping passenger train services ought to be discontinued as soon as possible... and as soon as procedure permits".

3. (slang) Extremely.
   • 1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Cher (Alicia Silverstone):

     You know, I am so glad I never did it with someone I had lukewarm feelings for. Christian is brutally hot, and I am going to remember tonight forever.