Wiktionary

cruel

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • enPR: kro͞oəl, IPA(key): /kɹuːəl/, /kɹuːl/
  • Audio (US/UK)
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  • Audio (AU)
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  • 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)

  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.
    • (Can we date this quote?) 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.
    • (Can we date this quote?) 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 termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

AdverbEdit

cruel (not comparable)

  1. (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.
    • 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)

  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, [1]
      What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.
    • 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April, 2014, [2]
      He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.
    • 2015, The Age, 8 September, 2015, [3]
      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, [4]
      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, [5]
      […] 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 2Edit

NounEdit

cruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)

  1. Alternative form of crewel

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

AsturianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin crūdēlis.

AdjectiveEdit

cruel (epicene, plural crueles)

  1. cruel

Related termsEdit

CatalanEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

cruel (masculine and feminine plural cruels)

  1. cruel

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

Further readingEdit

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 singular cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)

  1. cruel
  2. hard, painful

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

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Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

GalicianEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

cruel m or f (plural crueis)

  1. cruel

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French crual, from Latin crūdēlis.

PronunciationEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

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 termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • English: cruel
  • Scots: cruel

ReferencesEdit

PortugueseEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

cruel (plural cruéis, comparable)

  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 termsEdit

Related termsEdit

SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Spanish, from Latin crūdēlis.

AdjectiveEdit

cruel (plural crueles)

  1. cruel

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

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