Meaning & use
cruel ruler
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Meaning
nouncountable
A person who governs a country or people in a harsh, unkind, and often violent way.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a cruel ruler' for one, or 'cruel rulers' for more than one.
Patterns
- a cruel ruler
- cruel rulers
- a cruel ruler of something
The history book describes him as a cruel ruler who punished anyone who disagreed with him.
People often compare cruel rulers to characters in fairy tales who lose their power in the end.
She wrote a novel about a cruel ruler and the brave citizens who opposed him.
Word forms
| plural | cruel rulers |
|---|
Common combinations
- a cruel ruler
- The country suffered for years under a cruel ruler.
- a notoriously cruel ruler
- He was a notoriously cruel ruler who feared no one.
- overthrow a cruel ruler
- The people rose up to overthrow the cruel ruler.
- a cruel ruler's reign
- The cruel ruler's reign ended after a long civil war.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tyrant
- A single word that means a cruel and oppressive ruler; it is more formal and often used in political or historical writing.
- despot
- Similar to tyrant but even more formal; it emphasizes total power and often cruelty, and is common in academic texts.
- dictator
- A ruler with total power, but not always cruel; 'cruel ruler' clearly adds the idea of harshness.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: cruel ruler or ruler?
cruel ruler vs ruler
A ruler can also mean a straight measuring tool. In 'cruel ruler', it always means a person who governs.
Practice
The people finally rebelled against the ______ who had made their lives miserable.
Choose one answer.
After 'the' and before 'who', we need a person noun phrase: 'cruel ruler'. 'Cruel rule' means the system of governing, not the person, and 'cruel ruling' means a harsh official decision.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cruel ruler”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.