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- Dictionarycruel/ˈkruː(ə)l/
adjective
- 1. wilfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it: "people who are cruel to animals" Similar Opposite
verb
- 1. spoil or ruin (an opportunity or a chance of success): informal Australian "Ernie nearly cruelled the whole thing by laughing"
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CRUEL definition: 1. (of a person or action) extremely unkind and unpleasant and causing pain to people or animals…. Learn more.
The meaning of CRUEL is disposed to inflict pain or suffering : devoid of humane feelings. How to use cruel in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of Cruel.
Someone or something that inflicts pain or causes suffering can be described as cruel. It would be cruel of you to offer chocolate to someone on a diet.
Definition of cruel adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
cruel implies willingness to cause pain, and indifference to suffering: a cruel stepfather. pitiless adds the idea of refusal to show compassion: pitiless to captives. ruthless implies cruelty and unscrupulousness, letting nothing stand in one’s way: ruthless greed. brutal implies cruelty that takes the form of physical violence: a brutal ...
1. willfully causing pain or distress to others. 2. enjoying the pain or distress of others. 3. causing or marked by great pain or distress. 4. unrelentingly severe; merciless; brutal. [1175–1225; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin crūdēlis = crūd (us) (see crude) + -ēlis adj. suffix] cru′el•ly, adv.
extremely unkind, or causing people or animals to suffer: a cruel joke. Many people think hunting is cruel to animals. Fewer examples. I can't understand how anyone could be so cruel. It's cruel to keep an animal chained up like that all the while. He was certainly a very cruel man.
Definitions of 'cruel' 1. Someone who is cruel deliberately causes pain or distress to people or animals. [...] 2. A situation or event that is cruel is very harsh and causes people distress. [...] More. Synonyms of 'cruel' • brutal, ruthless, callous, sadistic [...] • bitter, severe, painful, ruthless [...] More. Collocations with the word 'cruel'
Meaning & use. Pronunciation. Forms. Frequency. Compounds & derived words. Factsheet. What does the adjective cruel mean? There are eight meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective cruel, three of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence. Entry status.
CRUEL meaning: 1 : used to describe people who hurt others and do not feel sorry about it; 2 : causing or helping to cause suffering terrible and unfair.
