crueltynoun [ U or C ]
uk/ˈkruː.əl.ti/us/ˈkruː.əl.t̬i/B2 cruel behaviour or a cruel action:
The farmer was accused of cruelty to animals.
More examples
- The slaves were treated with sickening cruelty.
- I find any cruelty to children utterly repellent.
- She divorced her husband on the grounds of mental cruelty.
- The cruelty displayed by these torturers is hard to comprehend.
- This arrogant and evil character used cruelty and fear to control his whole family.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Unkind, cruel & unfeeling
- acerbic
- acidly
- backbite
- backbiting
- backhanded
- barbaric
- bilious
- cutthroat
- fiendish
- hard-hearted
- have a heart of stone idiom
- have a sharp tongue idiom
- insensible
- malign
- remorseless
- ruthless
- sadism
- sadist
- savagery
- waspish
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