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