crueler or crueller; cruelest or cruellest
1
: disposed to inflict pain or suffering : devoid of humane feelings
a cruel tyrant
has a cruel heart
2
a
: causing or conducive to injury, grief, or pain
a cruel joke
a cruel twist of fate
b
: unrelieved by leniency
cruel punishment
cruelness
noun
Examples of cruel in a Sentence
a cruel twist of fate
Hunger is a cruel fact of nature.
Recent Examples on the Web
What's particularly cruel about that reality is that after years of dealing with questions about his weight, the former Duke Blue Devil star played a career-high 70 games in 2023-24.
—
Bobby Krivitsky, Forbes.com, 1 Apr. 2025
Here, Munir may be vaccinating chickens rather than grabbing them on their way to slaughter, but the work is just as thankless and cruel.
—Bartolomeo Sala, The Dial, 27 Mar. 2025
As poor, lost, beautiful Dorian becomes more and more shallow and cruel—with only the portrait locked away in his attic reflecting the decay of his body and soul—Williams and Snook together locate Wilde’s evocation of a particularly insidious kind of societal cancer.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent.
—Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruel
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Bobby Krivitsky, Forbes.com, 1 Apr. 2025
Here, Munir may be vaccinating chickens rather than grabbing them on their way to slaughter, but the work is just as thankless and cruel.
—Bartolomeo Sala, The Dial, 27 Mar. 2025
As poor, lost, beautiful Dorian becomes more and more shallow and cruel—with only the portrait locked away in his attic reflecting the decay of his body and soul—Williams and Snook together locate Wilde’s evocation of a particularly insidious kind of societal cancer.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
The death penalty is a cruel and irreversible punishment that is racially biased, and ineffective as a deterrent.
—Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruel
Cite this Entry
“Cruel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cruel. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
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