nasty, brutish, and short
Of a hypothetical state of human life, without a government or society, and marked by constant fear, violence, and insecurity.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Without any laws, life becomes nasty, brutish, and short.”
“Without police or courts, daily life is often nasty, brutish, and short.”
“Survival in the wild can be nasty, brutish, and short for small animals.”
“The philosopher argued that in a state of total anarchy, human existence is inevitably nasty, brutish, and short.”
“The documentary explores how life in the war zone has become nasty, brutish, and short for the families living there.”
“Critics describe the competitive world of that illegal industry as nasty, brutish, and short because no one trusts each other.”
“In the absence of a governing authority to maintain order, the author famously posited that the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
first recorded 17th c.
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.
- 01
a day late and a dollar short
Too late and too feeble to achieve the desired effect.
- 02
a short drop and a sudden stop
A fall to one's death by hanging.
- 03
caught short
unprepared or without enough of something when it is needed
- 04
cut up nasty
To become angry; to make a fuss.
- 05
down to the short strokes
In the final steps or decisive phase of an undertaking, especially one which has been lengthy or laborious.
- 06
draw the short straw
To be selected to do an undesirable task (by drawing the shortest straw or otherwise).
- 07
fall short
To be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient.
- 08
few sandwiches short of a picnic
Exhibiting disquiet or unsoundness of mind; not sane; mad.
Last updated August 10, 2026