cruel
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- enPR: kro͞oəl, IPA(key): /kɹuː(ə)l/
Audio (US/UK) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ʊəl, -uːl
- Hyphenation: cru‧el
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (comparative crueler or crueller or more cruel, superlative cruelest or cruellest or most cruel)
- Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.
- 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
- 2013, Ranulph Fiennes, Cold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth
- (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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AdverbEdit
cruel (not comparable)
- (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.
- 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt[1]:
- "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.'
VerbEdit
cruel (third-person singular simple present cruels, present participle cruelling, simple past and past participle cruelled)
- (chiefly Australia, New Zealand) To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)
- 1937, Vance Palmer, Legend for Sanderson, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, p. 226, [2]
- What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.
- 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April, 2014, [3]
- He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.
- 2015, The Age, 8 September, 2015, [4]
- 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.
- 1937, Vance Palmer, Legend for Sanderson, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, p. 226, [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, [5]
- 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, [6]
- […] 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.
- 2007, Stewart Motha, "Reconciliation as Domination" in Scott Veitch (ed.), Law and the Politics of Reconciliation, Routledge, 2016, p. 83, [5]
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
cruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)
- Alternative form of crewel
Further readingEdit
- “cruel” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “cruel” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
AnagramsEdit
AsturianEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (epicene, plural crueles)
Related termsEdit
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (masculine and feminine plural cruels)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “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.
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
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.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (feminine cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “cruel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
GalicianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Portuguese [Term?], from Latin crūdēlis.
AdjectiveEdit
cruel m or f (plural crueis)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French crual, from Latin crūdēlis.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel
- Merciless, cruel; revelling in another's pain.
- Deleterious, injurious; conducive to suffering.
- Unbearable, saddening, terrifying.
- Strict, unforgiving, mean; not nice.
- Savage, vicious, dangerous; displaying ferocity.
- Bold, valiant, heroic (in war)
- (rare) Sharp, acrid, bitter-tasting.
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “crūē̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (plural cruéis, comparable)
- (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
- (of a situation or occurrence) cruel; harsh; severe
- (of a doubt or question) distressful
- Que dúvida cruel!
- What a horrible doubt!
- Synonym: terrível
- (of an occurrence) bloody; violent
- Foi uma batalha cruel.
- It was a bloody battle.
- Synonyms: sangrento, cruento, sanguinolento
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Spanish, from Latin crūdēlis.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
cruel (plural crueles)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “cruel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014