What is another word for cruel?
Synonyms for cruel
ˈkru əlcru·el
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word cruel.
Wiktionary
crueladjective
Synonyms:
sadistic, vicious, brutalAntonyms:
mercifulcrueladjective
Not nice; mean; heartless.
The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.
Synonyms:
vicious, sadistic, brutalAntonyms:
mercifulcrueladjective
Cool; awesome; neat.
Synonyms:
sadistic, brutal, viciousAntonyms:
merciful
English Synonyms and Antonyms
cruel
Whatever is not civilized is barbarian; barbaric indicates rude magnificence, uncultured richness; as, barbaric splendor, a barbaric melody. Barbarous refers to the worst side of barbarian life, and to revolting acts, especially of cruelty, such as a civilized man would not be expected to do; as, a barbarous deed. We may, however, say barbarous nations, barbarous tribes, without implying anything more than want of civilization and culture. Savage is more distinctly bloodthirsty than barbarous. In this sense we speak of a savage beast and of barbarous usage.
Synonyms:
atrocious, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, inhuman, merciless, rude, savage, uncivilized, uncouth, untamedAntonyms:
civilized, courtly, cultured, delicate, elegant, graceful, humane, nice, polite, refined, tender, urbane
Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms
cruel
Synonyms:
savage, barbarous, pittiless, inexorable, unrelenting, ruthless, truculent, hard-hearted, harsh, unmerciful, brutal, inhuman, maleficent, malignantAntonyms:
humane, forbearing, generous, merciful, forgiving, benevolent, beneficent
Princeton's WordNet
barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, viciousadjective
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
"a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings"; "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks"
Synonyms:
wild, uncivilized, fierce, savage, deplorable, reprehensible, fell, beastly, unrelenting, venomous, criminal, brute(a), condemnable, roughshod, barbaric, evil, feral, poisonous, barbarous, vicious, furious, ferocious, barbarian, heavy-handed, brutish, bestial, brutal, ferine, uncivilisedAntonyms:
humane
Editors Contribution
lumpatious
meaning that if used properly it could mean cruel, rude, or very obnoxiously a jerk.
my mom is acting very lumpatious
Dictionary of English Synonymes
crueladjective
Synonyms:
unmerciful, inhuman, merciless, unfeeling, uncompassionate, fell, ruthless, barbarous, pitiless, relentless, unrelenting, inexorable, savage, ferocious, brutal, sanguinary, truculent, blood-thirsty, hard-heartedcrueladjective
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
crueladjective
Synonyms:
pitiless, merciless, inhuman, unmerciful, fell, relentless, ruthless, truculent, brutal, unfeeling, severe, inexorable, incompassionate, implacable
PPDB, the paraphrase database
List of paraphrases for "cruel":
brutal, harsh, callous, cruelty, ruthless, savage, heartless, vicious, barbaric, quarrelsome, atrocious, tough, merciless, unmerciful, inhumane, cold-blooded, gruesome, stone-cold, horrific
Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#2028 | wild | |
#2384 | criminal | |
#3009 | evil | |
#4538 | fell | |
#4924 | tough | |
#9271 | brutal | |
#9792 | savage | |
#11289 | cruel | |
#11437 | harsh | |
#12199 | rude | |
#15142 | fierce | |
#15592 | malignant | |
#15992 | vicious | |
#16835 | furious | |
#18006 | cruelty | |
#24683 | poisonous | |
#26052 | horrific | |
#26085 | ruthless | |
#26177 | barbarian | |
#27959 | feral | |
#31262 | inhuman | |
#36370 | gruesome | |
#39424 | ferocious | |
#40816 | sadistic | |
#42154 | heartless | |
#43810 | barbaric | |
#48929 | merciless | |
#49169 | unrelenting | |
#50274 | atrocious | |
#50386 | inhumane | |
#51420 | venomous | |
#51788 | untamed | |
#53842 | callous | |
#54728 | bestial | |
#55032 | deplorable | |
#58505 | reprehensible | |
#66341 | barbarous | |
#70510 | beastly | |
#72930 | brutish | |
#73839 | inexorable | |
#98549 | uncouth | |
#102327 | uncivilized | |
#126547 | roughshod | |
#136732 | quarrelsome | |
#139191 | maleficent | |
#205995 | truculent | |
#222327 | unmerciful | |
#236180 | uncivilised | |
#290986 | condemnable |
How to use cruel in a sentence?
Some hopefuls believe that the world can be saved, but the cruel and twisted say never.
War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.
World leaders meeting in Japan this week should not turn a blind eye to the cruel assault planned on whales of the North Pacific.
Women don’t plan to be raped. Parents don’t plan for their children to be victims of incest, asking a woman or a parent to foresee something like that and buy supplemental insurance to cover that horrific possibility is not only ridiculous, it is cruel.
I actually retired for a few months last year, but my customers( and public interest) made me come back, i think it is cruel to turn down the students( for interviews) and I want to promote this art to the others. That's why I came back.
Translations for cruel
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- wreedaardigAfrikaans
- قاسيArabic
- жорсткіBelarusian
- жестокBulgarian
- cruelCatalan, Valencian
- krutýCzech
- creulonWelsh
- grusomDanish
- grausamGerman
- σκληρόςGreek
- kruelaEsperanto
- cruelSpanish
- julmEstonian
- ظالمPersian
- julmaFinnish
- grimmurFaroese
- cruelFrench
- wreedWestern Frisian
- cruálachIrish
- neo-iochdmhor, garg, neo-thruacanta, brùideil, mì-chneasta, borb, cruadalachScottish Gaelic
- cruelGalician
- אכזרית, אַכְזָרִיHebrew
- निर्दयी, ज़ालिमHindi
- kegyetlenHungarian
- անգութ, դաժանArmenian
- cruelInterlingua
- kejamIndonesian
- grimmur, vondurIcelandic
- crudeleItalian
- 酷い, 残酷, 惨いJapanese
- სასტიკიGeorgian
- 잔인Korean
- bêrehm, zalimKurdish
- saevus, crudelisLatin
- negailestingas, žiaurusLithuanian
- nežēlīgsLatvian
- whakawiriwiriMāori
- хэрцгийMongolian
- kejamMalay
- wrede, wreed, gemeen, gemeneDutch
- grusomNorwegian
- okrutnyPolish
- cruelPortuguese
- crunt, cumplit, crudRomanian
- жестокийRussian
- не̏човјечан, о̏крӯтан, ȍkrūtan, nȅčovečan, nȅčovječan, не̏човечанSerbo-Croatian
- krutýSlovak
- krutSlovene
- mizorAlbanian
- grymSwedish
- dhalimuSwahili
- క్రూరమైనTelugu
- ทารุณ, โหด, โหดร้ายThai
- malupitTagalog
- zalimTurkish
- achchiqUyghur, Uighur
- жорстокийUkrainian
- نردیی, ظالمUrdu
- độc ácVietnamese
- גרויזאםYiddish
Get even more translations for cruel »
Translation
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"cruel." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/cruel>.
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