Beastliness
of or like a beast; bestial.
Informal. nasty; unpleasant; disagreeable.
Chiefly British Informal. very; exceedingly:
It’s beastly cold out.
British Informal. disagreeably; outrageously:
beastly rude.
Historical Examples
They are eminent in nothing, save as samples of beastliness.
What a Young Husband Ought to Know Sylvanus Stall
It was due to their low wages and to the beastliness of their employers.
G. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study Julius West
It’s a superb day, and we are back at ——, one of our old billets, right away from the beastliness.
Letters to Helen Keith Henderson
I won’t be eaten up by bugs and all kinds of beastliness, for any one.
A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden W. A. Ross
Though it extended through several years, no guilty act I ever heard of detracted from his deserved reputation for beastliness.
Trifles for the Christmas Holidays H. S. Armstrong
Even her beastliness sank out of sight beside that treachery.
The Combined Maze May Sinclair
The intelligence in his bold gaze made the beastliness of it all the harder to endure, all the stronger to arouse.
The Call of the Canyon Zane Grey
For beastliness is not a character of beasts; it is the arrest of man.
Demonology and Devil-lore Moncure Daniel Conway
It was reported that two brothers had been expelled from this public school for what we called ‘beastliness.’
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 4 (of 6) Havelock Ellis
People don’t dare to decline from beastliness—they’ll be killed themselves for it.
Mother Maksim Gorky
adjective -lier, -liest
(informal) unpleasant; disagreeable; nasty: beastly weather
(obsolete) of or like a beast; bestial
adverb
(informal) (intensifier): the weather is so beastly hot
adj.
c.1200, “brutish, sensual, debased;” late 14c., “in the manner of a beast,” from beast + -ly (1). Weakened in British upper crust use to “awfully, exceedingly” by mid-19c. Beastly drunk is from 1803.
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