cruel

 
Pronunciation: /krʊəl/

adjective (crueller, cruellest; US crueler, cruelest)

  • wilfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it: people who are cruel to animals a cruel remark
  • causing pain or suffering: the winters are long, hard, and cruel

verb (cruels, cruelling, cruelled)

[with object] Australian informal
  • spoil or ruin (an opportunity or a chance of success): Ernie nearly cruelled the whole thing by laughing
    [ late 19th century: perhaps influenced by the idiom queer someone's pitch (see queer)]

Phrases

be cruel to be kind

act towards someone in a way which seems harsh but will ultimately be of benefit to them: George did not like being firm with Lennie but he knew that he had to be cruel to be kind

cruel and unusual punishment

a category of excessively severe punishment banned under the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution (and originally under the English Bill of Rights): this is an important case that confronts the issue of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment

Derivatives

cruelly

adverb
[sentence adverb]: cruelly, the winning points stemmed from the only mistake made by Morris

Origin:

Middle English: via Old French from Latin crudelis, related to crudus (see crude)

Spelling rule

Double the l when adding endings which begin with a vowel to words which end in a vowel plus l: (crueller, cruellest).