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cruel

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.

Adjective

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cruel (comparative crueler or crueller or more cruel, superlative cruelest or cruellest or most cruel)

  1. Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.
    Synonym: sadistic
    Antonym: merciful
    The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.
  2. Harsh; severe.
    Synonym: brutal
    We're certainly having quite a cruel winter this year.
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 193:
      The thought that something might befall him that would leave her entirely at the mercy of this beast caused him greater anxiety than the probability that almost certain death awaited her should she be left entirely alone upon the outskirts of the cruel forest.
    • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:
      You may be sure they watched the cliffs on their left eagerly for any sign of a break or any place where they could climb them; but those cliffs remained cruel.
    • 2013, Ranulph Fiennes, Cold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth:
      He was physically the toughest of us and wore five layers of polar clothing, but the cold was cruel and wore us down hour after hour.
  3. (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adverb

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cruel (not comparable)

  1. (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.
    • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      "But I've served 'im ten years, and I'm fond of 'im, and, mind you, 'e's a great man, when all's said an' done, and it's an honor to serve 'im. But 'e does try one cruel at times."
    • 2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 219:
      'I've never got arthritis, though my old dad had it something cruel.'

Verb

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cruel (third-person singular simple present cruels, present participle (US) crueling or (UK) cruelling, simple past and past participle (US) crueled or (UK) cruelled)

  1. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand) To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)
    • 1937, Vance Palmer, Legend for Sanderson‎[1], Sydney: Angus & Robertson, page 226:
      What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.
    • 2014 April 1, The Sydney Morning Herald:
      He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.
    • 2015 September 8, The Age:
      A shortage of berth space for mega container ships will restrict capacity at Melbourne's port, cruelling Labor's attempts to get maximum value from its privatisation, a leading shipping expert has warned.
    • 2025 May 1, Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry, “The Trump effect has left Dutton exposed and Albanese in poll position in this atypical election race”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      The Trump effect has cruelled Peter Dutton’s campaign.
  2. (Australia, ambitransitive) To violently provoke (a child) in the belief that this will make them more assertive.
    • 2007, Stewart Motha, “Reconciliation as Domination”, in Scott Veitch, editor, Law and the Politics of Reconciliation‎[3], Routledge, published 2016, page 83:
      Violence is apparently introduced early by the practice of "cruelling": children even in their first months are physically punished and then encouraged to seek retribution by punishing the punisher.
    • 2009 July 2, Mark Colvin, “Peter Sutton discusses the politics of suffering in Aboriginal communities”, in ABC‎[4], archived from the original on 17 January 2010:
      […] I was referring to the area where you were talking about this practice of cruelling; the pinching of babies, sometimes so hard that their skin breaks and may go septic.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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cruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)

  1. Alternative form of crewel.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Asturian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈkɾwel/ [ˈkɾwel]
  • Rhymes: -el
  • Syllabification: cruel

Adjective

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cruel (epicene, plural crueles)

  1. cruel
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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cruel m or f (masculine and feminine plural cruels)

  1. cruel

Derived terms

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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis; either remade based on the Latin or evolved from the Old French form crual, possibly from a Vulgar Latin form *crūdālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cruel (feminine cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)

  1. cruel
  2. hard, painful

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Galician

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈkɾwɛl/ [ˈkɾwɛɫ], /kɾuˈɛl/ [kɾuˈɛɫ]
  • Rhymes: -ɛl
  • Hyphenation: cru‧el

Adjective

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cruel m or f (plural crueis)

  1. cruel

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French crual, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /kriu̯ˈɛːl/, /ˈkriu̯ɛl/, /ˈkriu̯əl/

Adjective

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cruel

  1. Merciless, cruel; revelling in another's pain.
  2. Deleterious, injurious; conducive to suffering.
  3. Unbearable, saddening, terrifying.
  4. Strict, unforgiving, mean; not nice.
  5. Savage, vicious, dangerous; displaying ferocity.
  6. Bold, valiant, heroic (in war)
  7. (rare) Sharp, acrid, bitter-tasting.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: cruel
  • Scots: cruel

References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /kɾuˈɛw/ [kɾʊˈɛʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /ˈkɾwɛw/ [ˈkɾwɛʊ̯]
 
  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /kɾuˈɛl/ [kɾuˈɛɫ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈkɾwɛl/ [ˈkɾwɛɫ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /kɾuˈɛ.li/, (faster pronunciation) /ˈkɾwɛ.li/

Adjective

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cruel m or f (plural cruéis)

  1. (of a person or creature) cruel (that intentionally causes or revels in pain and suffering)
    Synonym: bárbaro
    O algoz era conhecido por ser extremamente cruel.
    The executioner was known for being extremely cruel.
  2. (of a situation or occurrence) cruel; harsh; severe
    Synonyms: severo, terrível, pesado
    Ele recebeu uma cruel mas merecida sentença.
    He received a harsh but deserved sentenced.
  3. (of a doubt or question) distressful
    Synonym: terrível
    Que dúvida cruel!
    What a horrible doubt!
  4. (of an occurrence) bloody; violent
    Synonyms: sangrento, cruento, sanguinolento
    Foi uma batalha cruel.
    It was a bloody battle.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Spanish, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈkɾwel/ [ˈkɾwel]
  • Rhymes: -el
  • Syllabification: cruel

Adjective

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cruel m or f (masculine and feminine plural crueles)

  1. cruel
  2. mean
    Synonym: malo

Derived terms

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Further reading

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