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cruel Definition

cruel (kro̵̅o̅′əl)

adjective

  1. deliberately seeking to inflict pain and suffering; enjoying others' suffering; without mercy or pity
  2. causing, or of a kind to cause, pain, distress, etc.

Etymology: OFr < L crudelis < crudus: see crude

Related Forms:

cruel Synonyms

cruel

modif.

  1. Vicious

    malevolent, brutal, sadistic, inhuman, ruthless, spiteful, depraved, wicked, delighting in torture, vengeful, revengeful, evil, sinful, degenerate, disposed to inflict suffering, brutish, demoniac, outrageous, tyrannical, gross, swinish, evil-minded, rancorous, rough, wild, bestial, ferocious, bloodthirsty, savage, fierce, monstrous, barbarous, barbaric, maleficent, fell, ravening, fiendish, satanic, atrocious, truculent, demoniacal, debased, destructive, harmful, malignant, virulent, evilly disposed, pernicious, mischievous; see also sense 2, fierce 1, ruthless 2, savage 2.

    Antonyms kindly*, humane*, tender. *

  2. Pitiless

    callous, unnatural, merciless, sadistic, unpitying, unmerciful, unyielding, obdurate, coldblooded, ruthless, remorseless, hardhearted, unfeeling, inflexible, inclement, indifferent to suffering, unrelenting, inexorable, relentless, unsparing, absolute, grim, grim-visaged, inhuman, severe, harsh, heartless, stony, stern, unconcerned, iron-handed, without pity, knowing no mercy, giving no quarter*, turning a deaf ear*, hard as nails*; see also ruthless 1.

    Antonyms merciful*, touched*, compassionate.

cruel implies indifference to the suffering of others or a disposition to inflict it on others cruel fate; brutal implies ruthless force or savage cruelty that is altogether unfeeling a brutal prison guard; inhuman stresses the complete absence of those qualities expected of a civilized human being, such as compassion, mercy, or benevolence; pitiless implies a callous refusal to be moved or influenced by the suffering of those one has wronged; ruthless implies a cruel and relentless disregard for the rights or welfare of others, while in pursuit of a goal

cruel Usage Examples

Preposition: at

  • time: Its far ennemy is cruelty, one cannot be compassionate and cruel at the same time.

Modifies a noun

  • irony: The cruel irony was not lost on Derby boss Terry Westley, who finished the game without a recognized frontman on the pitch.
  • fate: This seems a very cruel fate for an innocent, harmless sheet of paper.
  • tyrant: The sun had long descended, But night brought no repose; Her day began and ended As cruel tyrants chose.
  • blow: In the event, Fate dealt a cruel blow.
  • twist: In a cruel twist, its located above Starbucks.
  • joke: Chris's idea of fun is playing cruel jokes on local journalists.

Modifying Another Word

  • unnecessarily: Investigate all possible legal action There are penalties in law for people who are unnecessarily cruel to animals.
  • unbelievably: The dealings in the prison are horrific, degrading and unbelievably cruel.
  • inherently: All cages - whether traditional battery or so-called ' enriched ' - are inherently cruel and cause laying hens to suffer throughout their lives.
  • exceptionally: He was an exceptionally cruel, arrogant, revengeful, and despotic ruler, but a monarch of wonderful power and ability.
  • incredibly: No cliché cardboard bad guys, but individuals, shaped into their own hells by an incredibly cruel and corrupt system.
  • extremely: These have almost always been taken from the wild to go through extremely cruel training methods.

Infinitive complement

  • make: Reads far too many books and thinks it's cruel to make other people do organization while he reads.

Used with adjective complement

  • seem: These fates seemed too cruel, even for God to allow.
  • sound: This next bit might sound cruel, I dont mean it to.
  • feel: But students who choose to participate in labs using live animals also face pressure and can be made to feel cruel.
  • consider: There were attempts to get the practice banned because it was considered cruel.
  • become: At the upper extreme crimes become cruel, filthy, beastly and disgusting, smiles become malicious and voices venomous.

Preposition: of

  • blow: But just four weeks after the opening ceremony, on 30th November, Baird was dealt the cruelest of blows.
cruel Quotes

All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness!

—Williams,TennesseeThomas Lanier

   The bottom of the sea is cruel.

—Crane, (Harold) Hart

Late at e'en, drinkin'the wine, And ere they paid the lawin', They set a combat them between, To fight it at the dawin'. 'O stayat hame, my noble lord, O stay at hame, my marrow! My cruel brother will you betray On the dowie houms o' Yarrow!'

—Ballads

Cruel, but composed and bland, Dumb, inscrutable and grand, SoTiberius might have sat, Had Tiberius been a cat.

—Arnold, Matthew

Cruel he looks, but calm and strong, Like one who does, not suffers wrong.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

What man that sees the ever-whirling wheel Of Change, the which all mortal things doth sway, But that thereby doth find, and plainly feel, How mutability in them doth play Her cruel sports, to many men's decay?

—Spenser, Edmund

Certainly wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet†they are more cruel and hardhearted (good to make severe inquisitors), becausetheir tenderness isnot so oft called upon.

—Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

Gilbert had a baddish streak or two in him; and one in particular whichwas not only baddish but so thoroughly caddish that no critic can ignore or, in my view, extenuate it. The man, to summarize, was essentially cruel, and delighted in cruelty.

—Quiller-Couch, SirArthurThomas known as  'Q'