What does cruel mean?
Definitions for cruel
ˈkru əlcru·el
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage 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.
ChatGPT
cruel
Cruel refers to behavior or actions that show a lack of empathy, compassion, or kindness towards others, resulting in intentional or unnecessary harm, suffering, or mistreatment inflicted upon them.
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.]
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
CRUEL
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Cruel is ranked #61899 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Cruel surname appeared 324 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Cruel.
64.2% or 208 total occurrences were Black.
22.2% or 72 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
5.8% or 19 total occurrences were Asian.
5.2% or 17 total occurrences were White.
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
It can be particularly cruel -- an elderly veteran has to reconstruct their service record. They're forced to prove their qualifications.
The UK's decision to go ahead with expulsions of asylum seekers to Rwanda Rwanda is an affront to its international obligations and quite simply cruel.
Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
The U.S. Supreme Court would not find a 150-year (term) cruel and unusual punishment.
When God gives you so much potential but won't let you reach it, when you wanna move forward but the world won't let you, it's like swaying a bone in front of a dog, you know he wants it but you don't give it to him, you would rather tease him with it instead, it's just God's way, the world's way of being cruel to you and keeping you down.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
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, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/cruel>.
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