cruel


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cruel

willfully causing pain or distress; merciless
Not to be confused with:
crewel – worsted yarn for embroidery and edging
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

cru·el

 (kro͞o′əl)
adj. cru·el·er, cru·el·est or cru·el·ler or cru·el·lest
1. Disposed to inflict pain or suffering: a cruel tyrant.
2. Causing or characterized by severe pain, suffering, or distress: cruel treatment; a cruel remark.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin crūdēlis; see kreuə- in Indo-European roots.]

cru′el·ly adv.
cru′el·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cruel

(ˈkruːəl)
adj
1. causing or inflicting pain without pity: a cruel teacher.
2. causing pain or suffering: a cruel accident.
[C13: from Old French, from Latin crūdēlis, from crūdus raw, bloody]
ˈcruelly adv
ˈcruelness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cru•el

(ˈkru əl)

adj. -er, -est.
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.
cru′el•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.cruel - (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or sufferingcruel - (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"
inhumane - lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion; "humans are innately inhumane; this explains much of the misery and suffering in the world"; "biological weapons are considered too inhumane to be used"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

cruel

adjective
2. bitter, severe, painful, ruthless, traumatic, grievous, unrelenting, merciless, pitiless Fate dealt him a cruel blow.
Quotations
"I must be cruel, only to be kind" [William Shakespeare Hamlet]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

cruel

adjective
1. Showing or suggesting a disposition to be violently destructive without scruple or restraint:
2. So intense as to cause extreme suffering:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
أليم ، قاسِقاسٍقاسي القَلب، عَديم الرّحْـمَـه
жесток
krutýsurovýukrutný
ondforfærdeliggrusom
julma
nirdayi
nečovječanokrutan
kegyetlen
kejam
miskunnarlaus; grimmuròjáningarfullur
残酷な
잔혹한
crudelis
negailestingasskaudusskaudžiai
cietsirdīgsnežēlīgssāpīgssmags
crud
krutokruten
grym
dhalimu
โหดร้าย
zalimacı verenacımasızçekilmez
tàn nhẫn

cruel

[ˈkrʊəl] ADJ (crueller (compar) (cruellest (superl))) → cruel
they were very cruel to herfueron muy crueles con ella
it's a cruel factes un hecho brutal
you have to be cruel to be kindquien bien te quiere te hará llorar
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

cruel

[ˈkruːəl] adj
[person] → cruel(le); [treatment] → cruel(le); [joke, hoax] → cruel(le)
to be cruel to sb [person] → être cruel(le) envers qn
[life, world, reality, fact] → cruel(le)
a cruel irony → une ironie cruelle
a cruel blow → un coup très dur
a cruel twist of fate → un cruel caprice du sort
you have to be cruel to be kind → qui aime bien châtie bien
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

cruel

adjgrausam (to zu); remark, wit, critic, winter alsounbarmherzig; to be cruel to animalsein Tierquäler sein; to be cruel to one’s dogseinen Hund quälen; that is cruel to animalsdas ist Tierquälerei; don’t be cruel!sei nicht so gemein!; sometimes you have to be cruel to be kindmanchmal ist es letzten Endes besser, wenn man hart ist
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

cruel

[ˈkrʊəl] adj (-ler (comp) (-lest (superl))) cruel (to or towards)crudele (con or nei confronti di)
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

cruel

(ˈkruːəl) adjective
1. pleased at causing pain; merciless. He was cruel to his dog.
2. causing distress. a cruel disappointment.
ˈcruelly adverb
ˈcruelty noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

cruel

قاسٍ krutý ond grausam σκληρός cruel julma cruel okrutan crudele 残酷な 잔혹한 wreed grusom okrutny cruel жестокий grym โหดร้าย zalim tàn nhẫn 残忍的
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

cruel

a. cruel, inhumano-a.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

cruel

adj cruel
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
And now it is the time; from Hell's abyss Come thirsting Tantalus, come Sisyphus Heaving the cruel stone, come Tityus With vulture, and with wheel Ixion come, And come the sisters of the ceaseless toil; And all into this breast transfer their pains, And (if such tribute to despair be due) Chant in their deepest tones a doleful dirge Over a corse unworthy of a shroud.
She felt nothing but that Arthur was cruel--cruel to write so, cruel not to marry her.
Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium of escape, and so, as my gaze ran quickly, time and again, over their vast expanse in search of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenly to loathe them as the prisoner must loathe the cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon.
Now I realized the cause of the rage that had been writ so large upon the features of Matai Shang and the cruel pleasure that I had seen upon the face of Phaidor.
This fault the Lacedaemonians did not fall into, for they made their children fierce by painful labour, as chiefly useful to inspire them with courage: though, as we have already often said, this is neither the only thing nor the principal thing necessary to attend to; and even with respect to this they may not thus attain their end; for we do not find either in other animals, or other nations, that courage necessarily attends the most cruel, but rather the milder, and those who have the dispositions of lions: for there are many people who are eager both to kill men and to devour human flesh, as the Achaeans and Heniochi in Pontus, and many others in Asia, some of whom are as bad, others worse than these, who indeed live by tyranny, but are men of no courage.
Few are willing to incur the odium attaching to the reputation of being a cruel master; and above all things, they would not be known as not giving a slave enough to eat.
This was too cruel, too unexpected a Blow to our Gentle Sensibility--we could not support it--we could only faint.
To you, to whom I have done this hard and cruel thing, the only reparation I can make is to say, 'I know it, I feel it!' The reparation is pitifully small!"
"To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced them," squeaked I-Gos.
It was not that he was more cruel or more savage than they that they hated him, for though he was both cruel and savage as were the beasts, his fellows, yet too was he often tender, which they never were.
"Our good Queen is ever striving to keep the dear flowers from the power of the cruel Frost-King; many ways she tried, but all have failed.
Before him lay the deep waters of the little lake, behind him certain death; a cruel death beneath tearing claws and rending fangs.