Definitions for cruel
ˈkru əlcru·el

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious(adj)

   (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering

   "a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings"; "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks"

Wiktionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. cruel(Verb)

   To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)

2. cruel(Adjective)

   Not nice; mean; heartless.

   The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.

3. cruel(Adjective)

   Cool; awesome; neat.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Cruel(noun)

   see Crewel

2. Cruel(adj)

   disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless

3. Cruel(adj)

   causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery

4. Cruel(adj)

   attended with cruetly; painful; harsh

Origin: [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Cruel

   krōō′el, adj. disposed to inflict pain, or pleased at suffering: void of pity, merciless, savage: severe.—adj. Cru′el-heart′ed, delighting in cruelty: hard-hearted: unrelenting.—adv. Cru′elly.—ns. Cru′elness (obs.); Cru′elty. [Fr. cruel—L. crudelis.]

British National Corpus

1. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'cruel' in Adjectives Frequency: #780

Anagrams for cruel »

1. lucre

2. ulcer

How to pronounce cruel ?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say cruel in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of cruel in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of cruel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of cruel in a Sentence

1. William Shakespeare:

   Cruel to be kind

2. Gloria Shayne:

   Goodbye cruel world.

3. Sophocles:

   To revive sorrow is cruel.

4. William Shakespeare:

   I must be cruel, only to be kind.

5. William Tecumseh Sherman:

   War is cruel and you cannot refine it.

Images & Illustrations of cruel

Popularity rank by frequency of use