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.

Wiktionary4.3 / 4 votes

  1. crueladjective

    Synonyms:
    sadistic, vicious, brutal

    Antonyms:
    merciful

  2. crueladjective

    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, brutal

    Antonyms:
    merciful

  3. crueladjective

    Cool; awesome; neat.

    Synonyms:
    sadistic, brutal, vicious

    Antonyms:
    merciful

English Synonyms and Antonyms3.8 / 4 votes

  1. 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, untamed

    Antonyms:
    civilized, courtly, cultured, delicate, elegant, graceful, humane, nice, polite, refined, tender, urbane

Princeton's WordNet4.7 / 7 votes

  1. 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, uncivilised

    Antonyms:
    humane

Editors Contribution0.0 / 0 votes

  1. lumpatious

    meaning that if used properly it could mean cruel, rude, or very obnoxiously a jerk.

    my mom is acting very lumpatious

    Submitted by anonymous on November 24, 2020  

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words5.0 / 1 vote

  1. crueladjective

    Synonyms:
    pitiless, merciless, inhuman, unmerciful, fell, relentless, ruthless, truculent, brutal, unfeeling, severe, inexorable, incompassionate, implacable

How to pronounce cruel?

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Words popularity by usage frequency

rankingword
#2028wild
#2384criminal
#3009evil
#4538fell
#4924tough
#9271brutal
#9792savage
#11289cruel
#11437harsh
#12199rude
#15142fierce
#15592malignant
#15992vicious
#16835furious
#18006cruelty
#24683poisonous
#26052horrific
#26085ruthless
#26177barbarian
#27959feral
#31262inhuman
#36370gruesome
#39424ferocious
#40816sadistic
#42154heartless
#43810barbaric
#48929merciless
#49169unrelenting
#50274atrocious
#50386inhumane
#51420venomous
#51788untamed
#53842callous
#54728bestial
#55032deplorable
#58505reprehensible
#66341barbarous
#70510beastly
#72930brutish
#73839inexorable
#98549uncouth
#102327uncivilized
#126547roughshod
#136732quarrelsome
#139191maleficent
#205995truculent
#222327unmerciful
#236180uncivilised
#290986condemnable

How to use cruel in a sentence?

  1. Sipho P Nkosi:

    Some hopefuls believe that the world can be saved, but the cruel and twisted say never.

  2. Niccolo Machiavelli:

    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.

  3. Kitty Block:

    World leaders meeting in Japan this week should not turn a blind eye to the cruel assault planned on whales of the North Pacific.

  4. Chris Turner:

    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.

  5. Ho Sau Mei:

    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

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"cruel." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/cruel>.

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