cruelty
noun/ˈkruːəlti/
/ˈkruːəlti/
(plural cruelties)
- [uncountable] cruelty (to somebody/something) behaviour that causes physical or mental pain to others and makes them suffer, especially deliberately
- cruelty to animals
- The deliberate cruelty of his words cut her like a knife.
Extra Examples- Her stepmother showed her nothing but cruelty.
- How can you inflict such cruelty on a child?
- She was shocked to see such cruelty.
- The children suffered mental cruelty and neglect.
- an act of extreme cruelty
- the depths of human cruelty
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- extreme
- great
- deliberate
- …
- inflict
- show (somebody)
- suffer
- …
- cruelty to
- cruelty towards/toward
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- [countable, usually plural] a cruel action
- Frightening cruelties were inflicted on child factory workers well into the 19th century.
- [countable, uncountable] something that happens that seems unfair
- the cruelties of life
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French crualte, based on Latin crudelitas, from crudelis, related to crudus ‘raw, rough’.
Check pronunciation:
cruelty