adjective
- of, relating to, or having the form of a beast: the belief that a person could assume bestial form after death; the bestial signs of the zodiac.
- without reason or intelligence; brutal; inhuman: bestial treatment of prisoners.
- beastlike in gratifying one’s sensual desires; carnal; debased.
adjective
- brutal or savage
- sexually depraved; carnal
- lacking in refinement; brutish
- of or relating to a beast
late 14c., from Old French bestial (13c.) “relating to animals, stupid, foolish, bestial” and directly from Latin bestialis “like a beast,” from bestia (see beast). Sense of “below the dignity of a human” is from c.1400, and in many cases its use is unjust to the beasts.