English Explanatory Dictionary

nasty, brutish, and short

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of a hypothetical state of human life, without a government or society, and marked by constant fear, violence, and insecurity.

Word forms

nasty, brutish, and short

Etymology

Mentioned in 1651 in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes: No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Related words

let them eat cake Mad Max social safety net
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