| 1 |
[ adjective ] lacking or showing kindness or compassion or mercy
Synonyms Used in print (Guy Endore, Voltaire! Voltaire!...)How cruel ! (Howard Fast, April Morning....)It may appear that we were cruel and callous , but no_one had time to spend sympathizing_with poor Isaac - except the Reverend . (Frieda Arkin, "The Light of the Sea," in The...)In the cruel clearness of her memory the boy remained unchanged , quick with the delight of laughter , and the pain with which she recalled that short destroyed childhood was still unendurable to her . Related terms |
| 2 |
[ adjective ] (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
Examples "a barbarous crime" "brutal beatings" "cruel tortures" "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks" "a savage slap" "vicious kicks" Used in print (Robert Penn Warren, Wilderness....)Once covertly looking at Simms_Purdew , the only man in the world whom he hated , he had seen the heavy , slack , bestubbled jaw open and close to emit the cruel , obscene banter , and had seen the pale blue eyes go watery with whisky and merriment , and suddenly he was not seeing the face of that vile creature . (John Dos Passos, Midcentury....)Occasionally if I pushed him too far he 'd give me a look out of narrowed eyes and the hard cruel bony skull would show through that smooth face of his . Related terms |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| * |
|