- having a desire to cause physical or mental pain and make somebody suffer
- He was known to be a cruel dictator.
- cruel to somebody/something I can't stand people who are cruel to animals.
- Her eyes were cruel and hard.
- Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind (= make somebody suffer because it will be good for them later).
- an extremely cruel regime
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- sound
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- to
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- causing physical or mental pain and making somebody suffer
- a cruel joke/hoax
- cruel punishment
- It was a cruel irony that he, being gravely ill, would survive his family.
- It would be a cruel twist of fate if he escaped only to starve to death once outside.
- Her father's death was a cruel blow.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- seem
- sound
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- to
Word OriginMiddle English: via Old French from Latin crudelis, related to crudus ‘raw, rough’.
Idioms
See cruel in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee cruel in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishcruel and unusual punishment
- a category of very severe punishment that is banned under US law
- This important case confronts the issue of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
- Detainees are subjected to malnutrition, forced labor, and to other cruel and unusual punishments.
Check pronunciation:
cruel