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

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

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

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

3. Cruel(adj)

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

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

4. Cruel(adj)

   attended with cruetly; painful; harsh

   Etymology: [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. Rudy Giuliani:

   I'm very proud because he's got that spirit, my God , nothing gets him down. But what they've been doing to him is heartless, My God , nothing's cruel.

2. George Sand:

   The capacity for passion is both cruel and divine.

3. Publilius Syrus:

   An angry father is most cruel toward himself.

4. Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate:

   I sometimes wonder that life can probably be compared best to a Rose Garden. Some writers like to do so in their efforts to romanticize life. Often as we walk through the rose garden, we become refreshed and rejuvenated by the warm, pleasant and sensuous breeze that carries captivating exquisite fragrance of beautiful roses. Life seems so remarkably wonderful at that very moment. Then on some occasions as we walk through the same rose garden, the sight of dried rose bushes with wilted flowers, dried rose petals and heaps of dead leaves all around saddens us deep inside. The cold callous currents of strong wind make us shiver, with the shocking harsh reality about the uncertainty of life. Oh, life can be so awesome and beautiful at times, and yet so cold and cruel on occasions. Such is the duality of life that reverberates and resonates in sync with the Rose Garden!

5. Richard Dawkins:

   Nature is not cruel, pitilessly, indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous -- indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.

Images & Illustrations of cruel

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