cruel
English
editAlternative forms
editPronunciation
edit- enPR: kro͞oəl, IPA(key): /ˈkɹuːəl/, (also) /kɹuːl/, /kɹʊəl/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -uːəl, -uːl, -ʊəl
- Hyphenation: cru‧el
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.
Adjective
editcruel (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.
- Synonym: brutal
- We're certainly having quite a cruel winter this year.
- 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 193:
- The thought that something might befall him that would leave her entirely at the mercy of this beast caused him greater anxiety than the probability that almost certain death awaited her should she be left entirely alone upon the outskirts of the cruel forest.
- 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.
- 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.
- (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
edit
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Adverb
editcruel (not comparable)
- (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.
- 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- "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
editcruel (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[1], Sydney: Angus & Robertson, page 226:
- What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.
- 2014 April 1, The Sydney Morning Herald:
- He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.
- 2015 September 8, The Age:
- 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.
- (Australia, ambitransitive) To violently provoke (a child) in the belief that this will make them more assertive.
- 2007, Stewart Motha, “Reconciliation as Domination”, in Scott Veitch, editor, Law and the Politics of Reconciliation[2], Routledge, published 2016, page 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, [3]
- […] 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 2
editNoun
editcruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)
- Alternative form of crewel.
Further reading
edit- “cruel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “cruel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Anagrams
editAsturian
editEtymology
editInherited from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editcruel (epicene, plural crueles)
Related terms
editCatalan
editEtymology
editInherited from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editcruel m or f (masculine and feminine plural cruels)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “cruel”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April
- “cruel” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
editEtymology
editInherited 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
editAdjective
editcruel (feminine cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “cruel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editGalician
editEtymology
editInherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editcruel m or f (plural crueis)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “cruel”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
- “cruel” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old French crual, from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editcruel
- 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 terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “crūē̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.
Portuguese
editEtymology
editInherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cruel, from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
edit
Adjective
editcruel m or f (plural cruéis)
- (of a person or creature) cruel (that intentionally causes or revels in pain and suffering)
- Synonym: bárbaro
- O algoz era conhecido por ser extremamente cruel.
- The executioner was known for being extremely cruel.
- (of a situation or occurrence) cruel; harsh; severe
- (of a doubt or question) distressful
- Synonym: terrível
- Que dúvida cruel!
- What a horrible doubt!
- (of an occurrence) bloody; violent
- Synonyms: sangrento, cruento, sanguinolento
- Foi uma batalha cruel.
- It was a bloody battle.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editSpanish
editEtymology
editInherited from Old Spanish, from Latin crūdēlis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editcruel m or f (masculine and feminine plural crueles)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “cruel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
- English 2-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/uːəl
- Rhymes:English/uːəl/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/uːl
- Rhymes:English/uːl/1 syllable
- Rhymes:English/ʊəl
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *krewh₂-
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- Asturian terms inherited from Latin
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- Rhymes:Asturian/el
- Rhymes:Asturian/el/1 syllable
- Asturian lemmas
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- Catalan terms inherited from Latin
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- Catalan lemmas
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- French terms inherited from Old French
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- fr:Personality
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- Rhymes:Galician/ɛl
- Rhymes:Galician/ɛl/1 syllable
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- Galician lemmas
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- enm:Emotions
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- Portuguese terms inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese
- Portuguese terms derived from Old Galician-Portuguese
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- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
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- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɛl
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɛl/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɛw
- Rhymes:Portuguese/ɛw/2 syllables
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese adjectives
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- Spanish terms inherited from Old Spanish
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- Spanish 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:Spanish/el
- Rhymes:Spanish/el/1 syllable
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- es:Personality