Word family
(noun)
cruelty
(adjective)
cruel
(adverb)
cruelly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcruelcru‧el /ˈkruːəl/ ●●●S3 adjective1CRUELmaking someone suffer or feel unhappy
His death was a cruel blow.
Sometimes life seems unbearably cruel.► see thesaurus at unkind2CRUELdeliberately hurting people or animalsOPP kind
The prisoner was a hard cruel man.
cruel jokes about mothers-in-law
It was a cruel tactless thing to say.cruel to
She was often cruel to her sister.3 →be cruel to be kind —cruelly adverb
He was cruelly neglected by his parents.THESAURUScruel deliberately hurting people or making them sufferIt was cruel to lock the dog in the garage all day.Her father had been very cruel to her when she was a child. a cruel, selfish womanheartless not feeling any pity and not caring about other people or their problemsHow could you be so heartless!He was cold and heartless and had no concern for the welfare of his employees.sadistic getting pleasure from making other people suffera sadistic killera sadistic thing to dobarbaric extremely cruel, in a way that shocks peoplea barbaric punishmenta barbaric sport vicious very violent and cruel, especially by suddenly attacking someone and causing injury to thema vicious attack on an innocent manSome dogs can be vicious.brutal very cruel and violent, in a way that shows no humanfeelingsa brutal dictatorthe brutal methods used by the secret policeinhumaneinhumaneconditions, treatment etc are not considered acceptable because they cause too much sufferingthe inhumane treatment of prisonerscold-blooded a cold-bloodedmurder, attack etc is done without showing any feeling or pity for the person who is attacked. A cold-blooded killer kills people without showing any pitya woman's cold-blooded murder of her devoted husbanda cold-blooded psychopathExamples from the Corpuscruel• People say showbusiness can be very cruel.• Children can sometimes be very cruel.• The mortals seemed miserable and the children cruel and now there was nothing left of the spectacle.• In the second place, he invented fishnets, a crueldevice whereby innocentfishleapweeping to your frying pans.• The heavymouth, the yellowskin, the cruel eyes - these told the real story.• I knew I was cruel in letting the walks go on as if nothing had changed.• Lyle was always playing crueljokes on his little sister.• The electricchair is possibly the cruelestmethod of execution.• It was cruel of you to frighten the poorboy like that.• He didn't seem the sort of man to be cruel on purpose.• An unknowable, harsh and cruelsociety had destroyed his father for no apparentreason.• Her parents were very cruel to her when she was young.• She married a man who was very cruel to her.• I think it's cruel to keep dogslocked up inside all day.• a long cruelwintercruel blow• Yet with their very first attack, the visitorsstruck a cruel blow.• The fact Pears could be ruled out of the crunch game at Molineux is a cruel blow after his superbseason.• It is a cruel blow and one that again underlines the inconsistency of the redcardlaw.• This had been a cruel blow, but it wouldn't stop her from ensuring that justice was done.• It would have been an unnecessary and cruel blow for her to see her old home in its state of decay.• That was a cruel blow for Howard Wilkinson's team, who had made a committed, controlled and commanding start.• He wanted to give comfort, and protect her from the cruel blow life had dealt her.cruel to• Her mother could be cruel to her at times.Origincruel(1200-1300)Old FrenchLatincrudelis, from crudus; → CRUDE1
