cruel

cruel

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: kro͞oəl, IPA^(key): /kɹuː(ə)l/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ʊəl, -uːl
• Hyphenation: cru‧el

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

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.

   The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.

   Synonym: sadistic

   Antonym: merciful

2. Harsh; severe.
   • 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.

   • 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.

   Synonym: brutal

3. (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.

Derived terms

• be cruel to be kind
• cruel-hearted
• cruel mistress
• cruelly
• cruelness
• cruelsome
• goodbye, cruel world
• overcruel

Related terms

• crude
• cruelty

Translations

that intentionally causes pain and suffering

Afrikaans: wreedaardig Albanian: mizor (sq) Arabic: (indefinite) قَاسٍ‎ (qāsin), (definite) الْقَاسِي‎ (al-qāsī) Armenian: դաժան (hy) (dažan), անգութ (hy) (angutʿ) Asturian: cruel Belarusian: жо́рсткі (žórstki) Bulgarian: жесто́к (bg) (žestók) Catalan: cruel (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 殘忍／残忍 (zh) (cánrěn), 殘酷／残酷 (zh) (cánkù) Czech: krutý (cs) m Danish: grusom Dutch: wreed (nl), wrede (nl), gemeen (nl), gemene (nl) Esperanto: kruela Estonian: julm Faroese: grimmur Finnish: julma (fi) French: cruel (fr) Friulian: crudêl Galician: cruel (gl) Georgian: სასტიკი (ka) (sasṭiḳi), ულმობელი (ulmobeli) German: grausam (de) Greek: σκληρός (el) (sklirós) Hebrew: אַכְזָרִי‎ (he) m (akhzary), אכזרית‎ f (akhzaryt) Hindi: निर्दयी (nirdayī), ज़ालिम (zālim) Hungarian: kegyetlen (hu) Icelandic: grimmur (is) m, vondur (is) m Indonesian: kejam (id), tega (id) Interlingua: cruel Irish: ainiochtach, cruálach, danartha, daordhálach, neamhdhuineata, turcánta Italian: crudele (it) Japanese: 残酷 (ja) (ざんこく, zankoku), 酷い (ja) (ひどい, hidoi), 惨い (ja) (むごい, mugoi) Korean: 잔인한 (janinhan) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: zalim (ku), bêrehm (ku) Ladino: kruel, imansiz, ahzar Latin: crūdēlis, saevus Latvian: nežēlīgs Lithuanian: žiaurus, negailestingas Malay: kejam, zalim (ms) Malayalam: ക്രൂരം (ml) (krūraṃ) Maori: whakawiriwiri Middle English: cruel Mongolian: хэрцгий (mn) (xercgii) Neapolitan: malo Ngazidja Comorian: -i Norwegian: grusom Occitan: crudèl (oc), cruèl, crusèl Old English: wælhrēow Papiamentu: kruel Persian: ظالم‎ (fa) (zâlem) Plautdietsch: grausom Polish: okrutny (pl) Portuguese: cruel (pt) Romanian: crud (ro), crunt (ro), cumplit (ro) Russian: жесто́кий (ru) (žestókij) Sanskrit: क्रूर (sa) (krūra) Scottish Gaelic: borb, garg, cruadalach, neo-iochdmhor, neo-thruacanta, mì-chneasta, brùideil Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: не̏човјечан (Ijekavian), не̏човечан (Ekavian); о̏крӯтан m Roman: nȅčovječan (sh) (Ijekavian), nȅčovečan (sh) (Ekavian); ȍkrūtan (sh) m Sicilian: crudili (scn) Slovak: krutý Slovene: krut (sl) Spanish: cruel (es) Swahili: dhalimu Swedish: grym (sv) Tagalog: malupit Telugu: క్రూరమైన (te) (krūramaina) Thai: โหด (th) (hòht), ทารุณ (th) (taarun), โหดร้าย (th) (hòht-ráai) Turkish: zalim (tr) Ukrainian: жорсто́кий (žorstókyj) Urdu: نردیی‎ (nirdayī), ظالم‎ (ur) (zālim) Uyghur: achchiq Vietnamese: độc ác (vi) Welsh: creulon (cy) West Frisian: wreed Yiddish: גרויזאַם‎ (groyzam), אכזריותדיק‎ (akhzóryesdik)

Adverb

cruel (not comparable)

1. (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.
   • 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎:

     "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

cruel (third-person singular simple present cruels, present participle cruelling, simple past and past participle cruelled)

1. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand) To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)
   • 1937, Vance Palmer, Legend for Sanderson, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, p. 226,

     What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.

   • 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April, 2014,

     He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.

   • 2015, The Age, 8 September, 2015,

     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.

2. (Australia, transitive, intransitive) To violently provoke (a child) in the belief that this will make them more assertive.
   • 2007, Stewart Motha, "Reconciliation as Domination" in Scott Veitch (ed.), Law and the Politics of Reconciliation, Routledge, 2016, p. 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, Mark Colvin, ABC, "Peter Sutton discusses the politics of suffering in Aboriginal communities," 2 July, 2009,

     […] 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.

Noun

cruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)

1. Alternative form of crewel

Further reading

• cruel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• cruel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• lucre, ulcer

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Asturian

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel (epicene, plural crueles)

1. cruel

Related terms

• crueldá
• crudu

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel (masculine and feminine plural cruels)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment

Related terms

• crueltat
• cru

Further reading

• “cruel” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cruel” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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French

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /kʁy.ɛl/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: cruels, cruelle, cruelles

Adjective

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

1. cruel
2. hard, painful

Synonyms

• féroce
• pénible

Derived terms

• cruellement

Related terms

• cruauté
• cru

Further reading

• “cruel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• culer
• recul

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Galician

Etymology

From Old Portuguese [Term?], from Latin crūdēlis.

Adjective

cruel m or f (plural crueis)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment

Related terms

• crueldade
• cru

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• kruell, cruele, cruwel, crewel, cruell, cruwelle, crewelle, cruelle, crowell

Etymology

From Old French crual, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

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

• cruelheed
• cruelly
• cruelnesse
• cruelte

Descendants

• English: cruel
• Scots: cruel

References

• “crūē̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kɾuˈɛw/ [kɾʊˈɛʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /ˈkɾwɛw/ [ˈkɾwɛʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɾuˈɛl/ [kɾuˈɛɫ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈkɾwɛl/ [ˈkɾwɛɫ]

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɛl, (Brazil) -ɛw
• Hyphenation: cru‧el

Adjective

cruel m or f (plural cruéis)

1. (of a person or creature) cruel (that intentionally causes or revels in pain and suffering)

   O algoz era conhecido por ser extremamente cruel.

   The executioner was known for being extremely cruel.

   Synonym: bárbaro

2. (of a situation or occurrence) cruel; harsh; severe

   Ele recebeu uma cruel mas merecida sentença.

   He received a harsh but deserved sentenced.

   Synonyms: severo, terrível, pesado

3. (of a doubt or question) distressful

   Que dúvida cruel!

   What a horrible doubt!

   Synonym: terrível

4. (of an occurrence) bloody; violent

   Foi uma batalha cruel.

   It was a bloody battle.

   Synonyms: sangrento, cruento, sanguinolento

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldade
• cru

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Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish, from Latin crūdēlis.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

cruel (plural crueles)

1. cruel, mean

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldad
• crudo

Further reading

• “cruel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014