cruel
Americanadjective
-
crueler,
comparative
-
cruelest
superlative
-
willfully or knowingly causing pain or distress to others.
- Synonyms:
- relentless, merciless, ferocious, bloodthirsty
- Antonyms:
- kind
-
enjoying the pain or distress of others.
the cruel spectators of the gladiatorial contests.
- Antonyms:
- compassionate, sympathetic
-
causing or marked by great pain or distress.
a cruel remark;
a cruel affliction.
-
rigid; stern; strict; unrelentingly severe.
adjective
-
causing or inflicting pain without pity
a cruel teacher
-
causing pain or suffering
a cruel accident
Synonym Usage
Cruel, pitiless, ruthless, brutal, savage imply readiness to cause pain to others. 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 master. Savage suggests fierceness and brutality: savage battles.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of cruel
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin crūdēlis, equivalent to crūd(us) ( see crude) + -ēlis, adjective suffix
Explanation
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. High school can be cruel sometimes: cruel teachers, who seem to organize to all pile on the papers and tests for the same day; cruel students, who are mean to each other; and even cruel cafeteria workers, who create disgusting concoctions out of mystery meat. Through its Latin ancestors — crudelis "rude and unfeeling" and crudus "raw or rude" — cruel is related to the English word crude, meaning rude or not fully formed.
Vocabulary lists containing cruel
Schooled
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Messenger
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"Seeking Freedom"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"The markets are very cruel," he told AFP on the sidelines of the conference, lamenting the barriers that smallholders producing organic food face in reaching consumers.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
What horrifies her is a sense that “the law is something to be inflicted,” and therefore inherently cruel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Hey, the American public can be crude and cruel.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026
Several of Seifert's sixes were struck with such force that spectators in the second tier were cowering for safety, though it felt cruel that Allen's spectacular boundary effort went in the book as a drop.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
That sweet mule Lucky Pete must have slipped cruel Flora’s rope and run off to celebrate his freedom.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Trump’s treatment of Cornyn was crueler than that of Cassidy.
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
If every author is a parent to their characters, then Austen, Mary’s true mother, is a good deal crueler than Mrs. Bennet.
From Salon ● May 20, 2026
“But I don’t recall crueler words ever said about me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
I recognize, of course, that life isn’t fair and that many families are grappling with circumstances far crueler than ours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
Somehow that made the maze seem like an even crueler place.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
Tennis is the cruelest game for a variety of reasons, Mr. Futterman contends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
But at the same time, even under the cruelest dictatorships, it has still managed to produce fine literature.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Some Wall Street analysts are insisting that April — contrary to its label as the cruelest month — is actually one of the better months for the U.S. stock market.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 1, 2026
He’s no longer constrained by what little caution and niceties he may have once had, or by officials and staffers who managed to, at least on occasion, thwart his cruelest instincts.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2025
This felt like the cruelest thing she’d ever done, killing Natalie’s hope.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
