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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Messenger
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Seeking Freedom"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Wildlife conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra, who led the pro bono public interest case, told AFP her petition had challenged state governments "supporting horrifically cruel practices".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Where “Jurassic World” balked at doubling down on its single cruel sequence, “The End of Oak Street” has at least 10 stomach-dropping thrills.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 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
His death, at age 43, brought cruel jokes about his size, and suddenly I did not want to talk about him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Whenever she did, I would say, “Treat me like a fool. Treat me mean and cruel, but love me.”
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
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
And then the even crueler twist: The threatened bolts of lightning, the thunder, rain and pea-sized hailstones never reached Pasadena.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2023
For a very long time, the god of pleasure who had so appealed to me as a young child was replaced with a crueler god, The Pursuit of Thinness.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2022
“I wasn’t mean, just...honest. Wouldn’t it be crueler to make him think there was some hope that I’d come around and just embrace all of this?”
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
But at the same time, even under the cruelest dictatorships, it has still managed to produce fine literature.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Almodóvar says it’s the film “where I’ve been cruelest with myself.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
Eliot famously wrote that “April is the cruelest month.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 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
This is what Margaret asked: “Have you ever heard the saying ‘The cruelest lies are often told in silence’?”
From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
