What does cruel mean?
Definitions for cruel
ˈkru əlcru·el
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word cruel.
Princeton's WordNet
barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, viciousadjective
(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
cruelverb
To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)
crueladjective
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.
crueladjective
Cool; awesome; neat.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
CRUELadjective
Etymology: cruel, French; crudelis, Latin.
If wolves had at thy gate howl’d that stern time,
Thou should’st have said, Go, porter, turn the key;
All cruel’s else subscrib’d. William Shakespeare, King Lear.If thou art that cruel god, whose eyes
Delight in blood, and human sacrifice. John Dryden, Ind. Emp.Consider mine enemies; for they are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred. Ps. xxv. 19.
We beheld one of the cruelest fights between two knights, that ever hath adorned the most martial story. Philip Sidney, b. ii.
Wikipedia
Cruel
Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve violence, but affirmative violence is not necessary for an act to be cruel. For example, if a person is drowning and begging for help and another person is able to help with no cost or risk, but is merely watching with disinterest or perhaps mischievous amusement, that person is being cruel—rather than violent. George Eliot stated that "cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside itself; it only requires opportunity." Bertrand Russell stated that "the infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell." Gilbert K. Chesterton stated that "cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kind of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty."The word has metaphorical uses, for example, "The cliffs remained cruel." (i.e., unclimbable when they desperately needed to be climbed) in The Lord of the Rings.
Webster Dictionary
Cruelnoun
see Crewel
Crueladjective
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
Crueladjective
causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery
Crueladjective
attended with cruetly; painful; harsh
Etymology: [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
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
Adjectives Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'cruel' in Adjectives Frequency: #780
Anagrams for cruel »
ulcer
lucre
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of cruel in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of cruel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5
Examples of cruel in a Sentence
Catching and injuring and possibly killing a hammerhead shark and then prolonging the animal’s suffering and then gloating to take photos is cruel to animals, plain and simple, there is no excuse for that.
Our harsh and cruel treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is damaging our international reputation and damaging our ability to advance our national interest, whether it's through being elected to the Human Rights Council ... or in other negotiations.
My government is promoting peace and friendship among our people after overcoming a cruel terrorist conflict.
These kids should be having fun living out their childhood, enjoying trips to the amusement park, but the political bickering has made their life a cruel roller coaster. Roughly 4.5 million children under the age of 18 live in mixed-status homes, with one family member being undocumented.
The world we live in is just a small but cruel and effective taste of God's will and authority.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for cruel
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- wreedaardigAfrikaans
- قاسيArabic
- жорсткіBelarusian
- жестокBulgarian
- cruelCatalan, Valencian
- krutýCzech
- creulonWelsh
- grusomDanish
- grausamGerman
- σκληρόςGreek
- kruelaEsperanto
- cruelSpanish
- julmEstonian
- ظالمPersian
- julmaFinnish
- grimmurFaroese
- cruelFrench
- wreedWestern Frisian
- cruálachIrish
- neo-iochdmhor, garg, neo-thruacanta, brùideil, mì-chneasta, borb, cruadalachScottish Gaelic
- cruelGalician
- אכזרית, אַכְזָרִיHebrew
- निर्दयी, ज़ालिमHindi
- kegyetlenHungarian
- անգութ, դաժանArmenian
- cruelInterlingua
- kejamIndonesian
- grimmur, vondurIcelandic
- crudeleItalian
- 酷い, 残酷, 惨いJapanese
- სასტიკიGeorgian
- 잔인Korean
- bêrehm, zalimKurdish
- saevus, crudelisLatin
- negailestingas, žiaurusLithuanian
- nežēlīgsLatvian
- whakawiriwiriMāori
- хэрцгийMongolian
- kejamMalay
- wrede, wreed, gemeen, gemeneDutch
- grusomNorwegian
- okrutnyPolish
- cruelPortuguese
- crunt, cumplit, crudRomanian
- жестокийRussian
- не̏човјечан, о̏крӯтан, ȍkrūtan, nȅčovečan, nȅčovječan, не̏човечанSerbo-Croatian
- krutýSlovak
- krutSlovene
- mizorAlbanian
- grymSwedish
- dhalimuSwahili
- క్రూరమైనTelugu
- ทารุณ, โหด, โหดร้ายThai
- malupitTagalog
- zalimTurkish
- achchiqUyghur, Uighur
- жорстокийUkrainian
- نردیی, ظالمUrdu
- độc ácVietnamese
- גרויזאםYiddish
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"cruel." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 8 Feb. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/cruel>.
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