Cruel

Definition: Cruel

Cruel

Adjective

1. Lacking or showing kindness or compassion or mercy.

2. (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".

3. (of weapons or instruments) causing suffering and pain; "brutal instruments of torture"; "cruel weapons of war".

4. (of circumstances; especially weather) causing suffering; "brutal weather"; "northern winters can be cruel"; "a cruel world"; "a harsh climate; "a rigorous climate"; "unkind winters".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "cruel" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

CRUEL

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Cruel

Malevolence

Phrase: cruel as death; " hard unkindness' alter'd eye "; homo homini lupus; mala mens, malus animus.; "rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind"; "sharp-tooth'd unkindness ".

Cruel; brutal, brutish; savage, savage as a bear, savage as a tiger; ferine, ferocious; inhuman; barbarous, barbaric, semibarbaric, fell, untamed, tameless, truculent, incendiary; bloodthirsty; (murderous); atrocious; bloodyminded.

Pain

Sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic; cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing; envenomed; catheretic, pyrotic.

Phrase: surgit amari aliquid; the place being too hot to hold one; the iron entering into the soul; "he jests at scars that never felt a wound"; "I must be cruel only to be kind"; "what deep wounds ever closed without a scar?".

Severity

Adjective: severe; strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative; coercive; tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial; inclement; (ruthless) a; cruel; (malevolent); haughty, arrogant; precisian.

Crosswords: Cruel

French (bitter, cruel, grievous, heartless, inhumane, murderous, ruthless, shrewd, unkind, wicked), Portuguese (atrocious, barbaric, bitter, bloody, boarish, candle-wick, cruel, dark, fell, felon, fierce, grim, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, iron, merciless, pitiless, ruffian, ruthless, scathing, severe, shrewish, squint-eyed, tigerish, tigrish, truculent, uncharitable, unfeeling, unkind, unmerciful, wicked, wolfish), Spanish (bad, barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, flint hearted, grievous, hard, harsh, heartless, inhuman, murderous, oppressive, pitiless, ruthless, savage, unkind, vicious, wicked).

I call it cruel and unusual (Mission: Impossible; writing credit: Bruce Geller; David Koepp)

You know how this town is. Everybody spreads cruel rumors (Sling Blade; writing credit: Charles Chaplin)

Cruel, but good word use. (The Lost World: Jurassic Park; writing credit: David Koepp)

Follow. But! Follow only if ye be men of valour, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived (Monty Python and the Holy Grail; writing credit: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.)

Think about ither mothers death leaves her disturbed and hostile in a cruel and inhumane world (Scream; writing credit: Kevin Williamson)

It's a cruel, cruel summer (Cruel Summer; performing artist: Bananarama)

But don't be cruel (Don't Be Cruel; performing artist: Cheap Trick)

It may be factual, it may be cruel, I ain't lying (Everybody Plays the Fool; performing artist: Aaron Neville)

If you're cruel to me I'll understand (An Innocent Man; performing artist: Billy Joel)

Love could be so cruel. ("I'm Sorry"; performing artist: Brenda Lee)

A cruel word may wreck a life. (references; author: unknown)

God is too kind to do anything cruel, too wise to make a mistake, and too deep to explain Himself. (references; author: unknown)

Un cuento cruel Vera (1973)

El Mes más cruel (1969)

Old King Cruel (1967)

The Cruel Tower (1956)

Cruel destino (1944)

Goodbye Cruel World (performing artist: James Darren)

Cruel to Be Kind (performing artist: Nick Lowe)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• The Boardman Tasker Omnibus: Savage Arena, the Shining Mountain, Sacred Summits, Everest the Cruel Way (reference)

• A sword bathed in heaven : the life, faith, and cruel death of the Rev. Robert Bradford B. Th. M.P (reference)

• Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment. (reference)

• The Death Penalty As Cruel Treatment and Torture: Capital Punishment Challenged in the World's Courts (reference)

• Mean Woman: Mina Cruel (Latin American Women Writers) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• A Cruel Romance (reference)

• Cruel Intentions (reference)

• Cruel Intentions / Cruel Intentions 2 (reference)

• The Cruel Sea (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Cruel Intentions: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK] (reference)

• Cruel Sun (reference)

• When I Was Cruel (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Tugurt was at her feet, cruel, leering, mysterious, fascinating. Credit: Library of Congress.

First profiteer--Well! the cruel war is over, now the problems of peace, eh!--what! / J. Conacher. Credit: Library of Congress.

In cruel suspense : me go-ee or me stay-ee? me no sabee. Credit: Library of Congress.

The savages let loose, or The cruel fate of the Loyalists. Credit: Library of Congress.

The cruel uncle and the vetoed babes in the wood. Credit: Library of Congress.

Goodbye cruel world. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Amendment VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. (reference)

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Now this cruel sport of Heaven was an ordeal that was over

less likely to get hurt by our cruel world, when obviously the reverse is true

So long and cruel they were though the white fattish hands were not cruel but gentle

Vicious and cruel and impatient, like a frantic child, and the whole structure overlaid with amusement

They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly spirit, and by consequence, insolent, abject, and cruel.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Human Rights

Turkmenistan

There were credible reports that political prisoners were singled out for cruel treatment. (references)

Angola

Security service personnel frequently employed torture and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment, including rape. (references)

Italy

The law prohibits torture and cruel or degrading punishment; however, there were reports of incidents in which police abused detainees. (references)

Political Economy

Saudi Arabia

However, in 2000 and during the year, the Government initiated limited measures to participate in international human rights mechanisms, such as its approval of the October legislation, which the Government claimed would address some of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. (references)

Women

Indonesia

Women working abroad as domestic servants often risk various forms of abuse, exploitation, and other cruel treatment. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "cruel": barbarous brutal cruel fell roughshod savage vicious ♦ be cruel ♦ be cruel to animals ♦ brutal cruel ♦ cruel and unusual punishment ♦ cruel joke ♦ cruel person ♦ cruel plant ♦ cruel treatment ♦ freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Additional references.

Beginning with "cruel": cruel-looking.

Afrikaans

wreedaardig. (various references)

Albanian

zemërgur (callous, hard-hearted, heartless, obdurate, stony hearted, unfeeling), mizor (atrocious, despiteful, draconian, draconic, ferocious, fiendish, inhuman, outrageous, pitiless, savage), i egër (atrocious, barbarous, bestial, cannibalic, cannibalish, despiteful, ferae naturae, feral, ferine, ferocious, fierce, furious, merciless, outrageous, rabid, savage, snappish, tigerish, tigrish, vicious, wild), gjakatar (bloodthirsty, sanguinary, sanguinary person). (various references)

Arabic 

‏قاس (austere, callous, concrete, cutthroat, drastic, firm, gauge, hard, hard-hearted, harsh, inclement, inflexible, measure, merciless, pitiless, relentless, rigid, rigorous, rough, rugged, ruthless, scale, severe, solid, standardize, stark, stern, stiff, strict, stringent, tape, tough, try on, unfeeling, unkind, unyielding), ‏وحشي (atrocious, barbarian, barbarous, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, brutal, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, feral, fiendish, fierce, ill, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, remorseless, ruffian, savage, truculent, unfeeling, vicious, wanton, wild), ‏صلب (adamant, aguish, callosity, callous, cast iron, concrete, consolidate, corneous, cross oneself, crucifixion, crucify, firm, harden, horny, inflexible, loin, metallic, out and out, persistent, ramrod, resistant, rigid, robust, sear, solid, solidary, stabile, stark, stiff, stiffen, stubborn, temper, tenacious, tough, unkind, unyielding). (various references)

Bulgarian 

мъчителен (afflictive, agonizing, awkward, exasperating, excruciating, grievous, grinding, gruelling, harassing, harrowing, heavy, nerve racking, painful, sticky, tantalizing, torturous, traumatic, trying, vexatious), жесток (bestial, bloody, butcherly, dark, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, draconic, fell, ferocious, fiendish, fierce, ghoulish, grinding, harsh, ill, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, iron, mean, merciless, monstrous, outrageous, sanguinary, shrewd, slashing, truculent, unfeeling, unkind, unmerciful, unrelenting). (various references)

Chinese 

虣 (violent), 鷲 (black eagle, condor), 粗暴 (rough), 暴 (sudden, to injure, to show or expose, violent), 慘 (badly, inhuman, miserable, seriously, tragic, wretched), 残暴 (sadistic), 殘酷 (cruelty), 殘 (destroy, disabled, incomplete, injure, oppressive, ruin, savage, spoil), 桀 , 剌 (obstinate, scoop out, to slash). (various references)

Czech

krutý (atrocious, bitter, brutal, dispiteous, extreme, fierce, gory, grim, hard, harsh, heartless, heathenish, rigid, ruthless, savage, severe, torsion, unkind, unrelenting, vicious, wolfish). (various references)

Danish

grusom. (various references)

Dutch

wreedaardig, wreed, barbaars (barbaric). (various references)

Esperanto

kruela. (various references)

Faeroese

harður (hard, rigourous, severe, strict, stringent, tight), grimmur. (various references)

Farsi 

ستمکار (Unmerciful, Unmercifully), ستمگر (Atrocious, Despot, Dispiteous, Oppressor, Tyrannous, Tyrant, Unjust), ظالم (Despot, Grim, Heinous, Incubus, Remorseless, Ruthless, Unsparing, Wroth), بیرحم (Atrocious, Bloodthirsty, Dispiteous, Relentless, Uncharitable, Unrelenting), بیدادگر. (various references)

Finnish

julma (ferocious, fierce). (various references)

French

cruel. (various references)

Frisian

wreed. (various references)

German

grausam (atrocious, barbarous, callous, cruelly, ferocious, ghastly, heartless, sanguinary, savage). (various references)

Greek 

σκληρόσ (bloody minded, callous, cold-hearted, crusty, flinty, hard, scirrhous, steely, stiff, stony, stubbed, stubbly, tough, truculent), σκληρός (grim, gruelling, hard, harsh, rough, tough), άσπλαχνοσ (merciless, pitiless, remorseless, unmerciful), αιματηρός (bloody), αιμοβόροσ (bloody, sadistic, tigerish), απάνθρωποσ (inhuman), απάνθρωπος (callous, inhuman). (various references)

Hebrew 

קשוח (callous, harsh, impenitent, inexorable, stern, stony, tough), אכזרי (brutal, fell, ferocious, inhumane, merciless, savage, tigerish, unfeeling), אכזר (barbarous, inclement, unkind). (various references)

Hungarian

kegyetlen (atrocious, bloody, brutal, brutish, dispiteous, felon, ferocious, grim, hard, heinous, inhuman, insensate, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, sanguinary, savage, scathing, tigerish, tyrannical), könyörtelen (fell, inhuman, merciless, pitiless, relentless, remorseless, ruthless, steely, steely glance, to be as hard as nails, unfeeling, unmerciful). (various references)

Indonesian

lalim (despotic, tyrannical), garang (ferocious, fierce, rampageous, savage, very strong, vivid, wild), buas (desolate, ferocious, furious, savage, wild), bengis (currish, curt, pitiless, ruthless, violent). (various references)

Italian

crudele (fell, flinty, hard-hearted, harsh, heartless, merciless, pitiless, sanguinary, savage, unkind). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

薄情 (cold-hearted, heartless, unfeeling), 無惨 (atrocious, miserable, pitiful, tragic), 惨い (atrocious, brutal, inhuman, merciless). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ひどい (awful, heavy, serious, severe, terrible, very bad, violent), ぼうぎゃく (atrocity, outrage, tyranny), さんれつ (atrocious, attendance, horrible, participation, presence), いんごう (causes and actions, ex-emperor, heartless, results of actions in previous life), こくはく (acknowledgement, black and white, confession, inhumane, right and wrong), こころない (inconsiderate, tasteless, thoughtless), むざん (atrocious, atrocity, cold-bloodedness, cruelty, miserable, pitiful, tragic), むごい (atrocious, brutal, inhuman, merciless), じゃけん (cruelty, evil point of view, hard hearted, hard-heartedness, unkind), はくじょう (cold-hearted, confession, heartless, unfeeling). (various references)

Korean 

잔인한 (Brutal, inhuman). (various references)

Malay

kejam. (various references)

Manx

dewil (barbarous, cold-blooded, inclement, savage, severe), deinyssagh, deinaghtagh (wearying), barbaragh (barbarian, ruthless, uncivilized), barb (a sharp point, drastic, javelin, rough, sharp). (various references)

Norwegian

grusom. (various references)

Papiamen

kruel. (various references)

Pig Latin

uelcray.(various references)

Polish

okrulny. (various references)

Portuguese

cruel (atrocious, barbaric, bitter, bloody, boarish, candle-wick, dark, fell, felon, fierce, grim, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, iron, merciless, pitiless, ruffian, ruthless, scathing, severe, shrewish, squint-eyed, tigerish, tigrish, truculent, uncharitable, unfeeling, unkind, unmerciful, wicked, wolfish). (various references)

Romanian

câinos (hard-hearted, heinous, wicked), chinuitor (agonizing, excruciating, gnawing, harrowing, tormentor, torturer), crud (brutal, brutally, callous, callow, crude, cruelly, cut throat, dire, foully, gory, green, hard, harsh, immature, merciless, raw, ruthless, sanguinary, savage, savagely, sodden, sour, truculent, unfeeling, violent, violently, wolfish, young), crunt (awful, bloodthirsty, bloody, brutal, dreadful, horrible, sharp, terrible, violent), cumplit (atrocious, dreadful, eerie, fell, ferocious, fierce, grievous, horrendous, mad, monstrous, outrageous, severe, terrible, utter, uttermost), hain (averse, hostile, vicious, wicked), avan (awful, awfully, wicked), aprig (ferocious, fierce, fiery, grim, hard-hearted, harshly, high-spirited, impetuous, passionate, passionately, severe, sharp, truculent, violent), ghimpos (biting, prickle, spiny, thorny), vitreg (cruelly, wicked), hapsân (fierce, grabbing, greedy, wicked), neîmblânzit (indomitable, terrible, unbroken, wild), nemilos (fell, hard, harsh, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, unkind), neomenesc (inhuman, unfeeling), sãlbatic (barbarous, bloodthirsty, brutal, brutish, feral, ferine, ferocious, fierce, fiery, haggard, harsh, impetuous, inhuman, inhumanly, rugged, sanguinary, savage, shaggy, tameless, truculent, uncivilized, uncouth, uncouthly, uncultivated, uncultured, ungovernable, unruly, unsociable, violent, wild, wild man), tiranic (despotic, despotically, domineering, heavy-handed, oppressive, severe, tyrannical, tyrannous), feroce (awful, barbarous, bloodthirsty, brutal, dreadful, fearful, ferocious, ferociously, fierce, inhuman, ruthless, savage, savagely, truculent, unmerciful). (various references)

Russian 

мучительный (agonal, agonizing, anguished, excruciating, grievous, nerve-racking, painful, poignant, racking, torturous), жестоко жестокий, жестокий (atrocious, barbarous, bitter, bloody minded, bloody-minded, brutal, brutish, butcherly, cutthroat, despiteful, doggish, ferocious, fiendish, fierce, grim, hard bitten, heathenish, heavy-handed, inhuman, inhumane, iron-handed, keen, mortal, satrapic, uncharitable, unfeeling, unkind, unrelenting). (various references)

Scottish

fuilteach. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

svirep (atrocious, brutal, brute, farouche, ferocious, fierce, truculent), surov (brutal, hard, inclement, oppressive, stern), okrutan (dispiteous, flagitious, flinty, hardhearted, harsh, truculent), nemilosrdan (dispiteous, graceless, hardhearted, merciless, pitiless, relentless, remorseless, ruthless, uncharitable, unmerciful, wanton). (various references)

Spanish

cruel (bad, barbarous, brutal, fell, flint hearted, grievous, hard, harsh, heartless, inhuman, murderous, oppressive, pitiless, ruthless, savage, unkind, vicious, wicked). (various references)

Swedish

grym (atrocious, fell, felon, ferocious, fierce, savage, vicious). (various references)

Tagalog

malupít. (various references)

Turkish

zor (arduous, baffling, constraint, crucial, difficult, exacting, force, formidable, hairy, hard, inconvenient, knotty, main, mean, might, rough, sticky, stiff, strain, tight, trickish, uneasy), zalim (arbitrary, atrocious, bloody minded, brutal, cutthroat, daemon, demon, draconian, draconic, fell, felon, fiendish, flinty, grim, heavy, heavy-handed, ill natured, inhuman, miscreant, ogre, oppressive, oppressor, outrageous, persecutor, sanguinary, savage, stony, truculent, tyrannic, tyrannical), merhametsiz (draconic, fell, inexorable, inhuman, merciless, pitiless, relentless, remorseless, ruthless, uncharitable, unfeeling, unmerciful, unpitied), korkunç (appalling, awesome, awful, desperate, dire, direful, disastrous, disgusting, dreadfull, eldritch, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghoulish, gory, grim, grisly, gruesome, haircurling, hair-raiser, hellish, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, lurid, monstrous, redoubtable, scary, shocking, sickening, terrible, terrific, terrifying), hissiz (apathetic, apathetical, benumbed, bloodless, callous, crass, devoid of feelings, dispassionate, down to earth, impassible, impassive, indifferent, insensate, insensible, insensitive, insentient, insusceptible, numb, senseless, soulless, torpid), gaddar (arbitrary, atrocious, bloody minded, brutal, draconian, draconic, ferocious, grim, pedrifious), acımasız (atrocious, brutal, coldhearted, cutthroat, dead, despot, ferocious, fiendish, flinty, grim, hard-hearted, harsh, implacable, inclement, inexorable, inhumane, merciless, outrageous, pitiless, relentless, ruthless, slashing, stern, truculent, tyrannic, tyrannical, tyrannous, unmerciful, unpitied, unrelenting, without remorse). (various references)

Turkmen 

zabun. (various references)

Ukrainian

нестерпний (chronic, excruciating, impassive, impossible, insufferable, insupportable, intolerable, obnoxious, painful, pink, racking, repugnant, unbearable), жорстокий (atrocious, barbarous, bloody minded, brutal, brute, brutish, cutthroat, despiteful, feral, ferocious, merciless, oppressive, outrageous, ruthless, stern, uncharitable), болісний (afflictive, bitter, distressful, dolorous, excruciating, fell, harrowing, poignant, racking, sore). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thảm khốc (dire, direful), tàn nhẫn hiểm nghèo, tàn khốc (cutthroat, direful), tàn bạo (barbarously, bloodthirsty, brutal, cruelly, draconian, draconic, ferocious, truculent), tàn ác (atrocious, cruelly, foully, monstrous), hung ác (cruelly, ferocious, fiendish, tigerish, tigrish), dữ tợn (cruelly, dangerous, ferocious, fierce, grim, towering), độc ác (bestial, cruelly, devilish, godless, malign, sinister, venomous), ác nghiệt (cruelly, harsh, sore). (various references)

Welsh

creulon. (various references)

atrox, crudelis. (various references)

fel. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "cruel": crueler, cruelest, crueller, cruellest, cruelly, cruelness, cruelnesses, cruelties, cruelty. (additional references)

Words containing "cruel": anticruelty. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Cruel" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: acruel, bruel, chrulew, Ciruelo, craal, Creely, crel, crell, creu, creux, crial, crile, Crisell, croal, croil, crol, Crole, crual, Crudele, crue, cruell, cruely, cruer, cruex, crul, crule, Crunella, Crusell, cuel, curel, Currell, curule, druel, Korumel, kriel, kruel, Krumel, ruel. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: lucre, ulcer.

-1 letter: clue, cure, curl, ecru, luce, lure, rule.

-2 letters: cel, cue, cur, ecu, leu, rec, rue.

-3 letters: el, er, re.

+1 letter: colure, culler, culver, curdle, curled, curler, curlew, curule, cutler, lucern, lucres, reluct, ruckle, ulcers.

+2 letters: auricle, blucher, buckler, careful, caulker, claquer, closure, cloture, cloured, clouter, clubber, clumber, clunker, cluster, clutter, colures, coruler, coulter, coupler, crudely, crueler, cruelly, cruelty, cruller, crumble, crumple, cuddler, cullers, culture, culvers, culvert, cupeler, curable, curdled, curdler, curdles, curlers, curlews, curlier, cutlers, cutlery, flueric, lacquer, lecture, lucarne, lucerne, lucerns, lucifer, luckier, luncher, lurched, lurcher, lurches, nuclear, plucker, recluse, recusal, relucts, ruckled, ruckles, scruple, sculker, sculler, secular, suckler, truckle, ulcered, unclear, utricle.