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:
In other words, those things have been working very hard to make it OK to not think about this in terms of cruel and unusual punishment.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
They were unethical and cruel — especially for a 16-year-old who placed such importance on identity and intellect.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
Meanwhile, the paper headlines on parents of a murdered teen who want to "silence cruel web 'sleuths'."
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Ericka at first takes only a nominally enthusiastic attitude toward vying for the crown, and she’s not particularly antipathetic to Paulina either—at least until she witnesses Paulina’s cruel and domineering behavior toward her fellow students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Was it possible that the atmosphere of Barracks 28 had affected even this cruel guard?
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
But they’re also crueler, and you can understand why she’ll think and write about anything but.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
To Valerie’s credit, she transformed her “Room and Bored” struggles into an Emmy-winning performance on its crueler version, “Seeing Red.”
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 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
Seven years later, the group has returned with sharper tools and a crueler edge, armed with a transformed legal and cultural landscape.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2025
He reminded me of Apollo, God of the Sun, except the Titans light was harsher, and his expression crueler.
From "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
After his electoral defeat in 1912, Candice Millard writes in “The River of Doubt,” Roosevelt “sought to purge his disappointment by throwing himself headlong against the cruelest trials that nature could offer him.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 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
Yet none found the back of the net, leaving the game to be decided on penalties, the cruelest, meanest, most unfair — and most exciting — way to determine a winner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
Sometimes, when I’m punished like this, Amá doesn’t even let me go to the library, which I think is the cruelest kind of torture.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
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.
