Meaning & use
cruel
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Willing to cause pain or distress to others, and often enjoying it or not caring about it.
Grammar: Often followed by to: cruel to animals.
Patterns
- cruel to someone
- cruel of someone to do something
It was cruel of him to laugh at her mistake.
The farmer was never cruel to his animals.
A cruel ruler can make life miserable for everyone.
adjectivecomparable
Causing great suffering or hardship, of an event, fate or conditions.
Grammar: Describes things as well as people: a cruel winter.
Patterns
- a cruel blow
- cruel fate
A cruel frost destroyed the entire crop.
Losing the match in the final minute was a cruel blow.
They endured the cruel conditions of the polar winter.
adjectivebefore a noun
Of words or remarks, hurtful and unkind.
Grammar: Goes before words like words, joke or remark.
Patterns
- a cruel remark
She regretted the cruel words she said in anger.
His cruel jokes made the new student cry.
The review was cruel but also fair.
Word forms
| comparative | crueler |
|---|---|
| comparative | crueller |
| superlative | cruelest |
| superlative | cruellest |
Common combinations
- cruel and unusual
- The court ruled that the punishment was cruel and unusual.
- cruel to be kind
- Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
- cruel joke
- The prank turned into a cruel joke.
- cruel twist of fate
- By a cruel twist of fate, the letter arrived a day late.
- cruel treatment
- Prisoners complained of cruel treatment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- heartless
- Heartless stresses a lack of feeling or pity, while cruel can include deliberately hurting someone.
- brutal
- Brutal suggests physical violence or harshness, and is stronger and less personal than cruel.
- harsh
- Harsh may be severe without intent to hurt, while cruel implies the hurt is accepted or wanted.
- unkind
- Unkind is a milder word for behavior that lacks warmth and does not suggest real suffering.
Opposites
Word family
- cruelty noun
- cruel behavior
- cruelly adverb
- in a cruel way
- cruelness noun
- a rarer noun for being cruel
Commonly confused: cruel or crude? cruel or cruelty?
cruel vs crude
Crude means rough, rude or unrefined, while cruel means causing pain on purpose.
cruel vs cruelty
Cruelty is the noun for cruel behavior, so you say it was an act of cruelty, not an act of cruel.
Practice
It was ____ the neighbor's dog was left outside all night in the freezing cold.
Choose one answer.
Cruel is an adjective and can follow it was, so it was cruel that works. The other options mix up the noun, adverb or have the wrong structure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cruel”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.