Meaning of cruel in English

cruel
adjective
uk
/ˈkruː.əl/ us
/ˈkruː.əl/
crueller | cruellest or crueler | cruelest
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B1
extremely unkind and unpleasant and causing pain to people or animals intentionally:
Don't tease him about his weight - it's cruel.
Children can be very cruel to each other.
Synonyms
barbaric
barbarous formal
brutal
callous
hard (SEVERE)
harsh (UNKIND)
inhuman
sadistic
savage
tyrannical
tyrannous
vicious
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
not kind to someone or something and causing pain
  • cruelTeasing them for being overweight is cruel.
  • callousHe had a callous disregard for the feelings of others.
  • cold-bloodedThe budget is based on a cold-blooded analysis of the markets.
  • ruthlessHe was a ruthless dictator.
  • heartlessHe has been described as a heartless boss by several employees.
See more results »
causing suffering:
His death was a cruel blow.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Unkind, cruel & unfeeling
See more results »

Related word

cruelly

Idiom

be cruel to be kind
(Definition of cruel from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

cruel | American Dictionary

cruel
adjective
us
/ˈkru·əl/
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extremely unkind and intentionally causing pain:
Her classmates made some cruel remarks.
Is the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment?
I think it’s cruel to put a dog in a cage.

cruelly

adverb us
/ˈkru·ə·li/
She treated him cruelly before the divorce.
(Definition of cruel from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of cruel

cruel
Reading the narrative allows the reader to enter a world of adventure that contrasts highly with the cruel world of war.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Observe that the antiphrasis 'popular democracy' is made more cruel by the use of pleonasm.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He is also driven by a need for victory, which motivates most of his cruelest acts.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
How is it possible to distinguish between humour that is about ' feeling good about life ' (p. 41) and that which is profoundly cruel or misogynistic ?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
What refuge exists for peoples crushed by invaders, whose methods of total war and pervasive social engineering are unthinkably vast and cruel ?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
My seventh grader bullies or is cruel or mean to others.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He presented himself as a competent person who knew the answers better than other students, especially younger ones, with whom he was often surreptitiously cruel.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He must be cruel, for they lament and weep, being chastized without cause.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The right against cruel and inhumane treatment is an obvious example among many.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Is that cruel when the end is in sight?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The enterprise was a response to the big city as a metaphor for cruel irrationality.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
By comparison, when readers turn the page they see the terrible consequences of the hunter's cruel actions.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
I shall not offend you either, brother; you are of very cruel kin, your mighty race.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The most conservative officials had accepted the abolition of cruel punishments.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
To achieve this, they had to tame a cruel and devastating nature and to conquer equally cruel savages.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of cruel
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of cruel?
 
B1

Translations of cruel

in Chinese (Traditional)
殘忍的, 殘酷的, 刻毒傷人的…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
残忍的, 残酷的, 刻毒伤人的…
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in Spanish
cruel, cruel [masculine-feminine]…
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in Portuguese
cruel, cruel [masculine-feminine]…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Ukrainian
in Italian
in Russian
無慈悲な, 残酷（ざんこく）な, 悲惨（ひさん）な…
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vicdansız, acımasız, zalim…
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cruel/-elle, rude, cruel (envers)…
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cruel…
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wreed…
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وَحْشي…
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krutý, surový, ukrutný…
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grusom, ond, forfærdelig…
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kejam, menyedihkan…
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โหดร้าย, ซึ่งก่อให้เกิดความเจ็บปวด…
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độc ác, tàn nhẫn…
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okrutny, przygnębiający…
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kejam, menyeksakan…
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grausam, unbarmherzig…
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grusom, ondskapsfull, grufull…
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잔인한…
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жорстокий, болісний, тяжкий…
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crudele…
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жестокий…
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Word of the Day

know-it-all

UK
/ˈnəʊ.ɪt.ɔːl/
US
/ˈnoʊ.ɪt.ɑːl/

a person who thinks that they know much more than other people

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