brute force

10 synonyms and 6 antonyms for brute force, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A method of breaking into an account or decoding protected data by trying enormous numbers of possible passwords or keys one after another until one works, rather than by finding a clever weakness.

Synonyms

Less common

Still standard English, but they carry more weight.

exhaustive naive

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

exhaustive search brute-force attack trial-and-error attack password cracking unsophisticated raw strength main force sheer power

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun computing

A method of breaking into an account or decoding protected data by trying enormous numbers of possible passwords or keys one after another until one works, rather than by finding a clever weakness.

“The login page locks an account after ten wrong attempts, which makes brute force impractical.”

exhaustive search brute-force attack trial-and-error attack password cracking

2. adjective computing

Describing an approach that solves a problem by working through every possibility in turn instead of using a shortcut or a smarter technique.

“Their first version was a brute-force search that checked every combination in the list.”

exhaustive unsophisticated naive

Opposites

heuristic optimised targeted

3. noun

Sheer physical strength or crude power applied to a task, without skill or subtlety.

“He opened the jammed door by brute force alone.”

raw strength main force sheer power

Opposites

finesse skill subtlety

How to use brute force

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

brute-force attack brute-force a password resistant to brute force brute-force search

Two words as a noun ('by brute force'), hyphenated before a noun ('a brute-force attack'). The physical sense is everyday English; the computing senses are technical.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a brute-force attack and a dictionary attack?

A brute-force attack works through possible combinations systematically, in principle covering every option of a given length. A dictionary attack tries a prepared list of likely passwords, such as common words and previously leaked passwords, so it tests far fewer candidates but hits ordinary human choices much faster.

Why does password length matter more than adding odd symbols?

Each extra character multiplies the number of combinations that would have to be tested, so length raises the total far more sharply than swapping a few letters for symbols does. Predictable substitutions are also already built into cracking tools.

What is credential stuffing, and is it brute force?

Credential stuffing replays username and password pairs stolen from one site against many other sites. It is not brute force in the strict sense, because it is not guessing: it relies on people reusing the same password in more than one place.

People also searched

skill targeted naive exhaustive finesse heuristic subtlety unsophisticated

Nearby words

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