cruelty

[kroo-uhl-tee]

noun

plural

cruelties 

1. the state or quality of being cruel.

   Synonyms: atrocity, inhumanity, barbarity, ruthlessness, brutality, harshness

2. cruel disposition or conduct.

   Antonyms: kindness

3. a cruel act.

   Antonyms: kindness

4. Law.,  conduct by a spouse that causes grievous bodily harm or mental suffering.

cruelty

/ ˈkruːəltɪ /

noun

1. deliberate infliction of pain or suffering

2. the quality or characteristic of being cruel

3. a cruel action

4. law conduct that causes danger to life or limb or a threat to bodily or mental health, on proof of which a decree of divorce may be granted

Other Word Forms

• anticruelty adjective
• self-cruelty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cruelty¹

1175–1225; Middle English cruelte < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin crūdēlitāt- (stem of crūdēlitās ). See cruel, -ity

Example Sentences

They are everyday people who have fallen on the wrong side of the “friends and enemies” distinction that animates Trumpism and its theater of cruelty.

Read more on Salon

Michelle is fluent in the perky command, the passive voice, the slippery non-apology, the kind of language that frames cruelty as blameless happenstance.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The next generation of operatives, campaign managers and elected officials is being incubated in a digital ecosystem that rewards cruelty, embraces fascist imagery and treats bigotry as a badge of ideological authenticity.

Read more on Salon

The allusion to economic justifications for the Confederacy’s inhumane cruelty is mocked and transformed, while also implying the process as Black reparation.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• barbarism 
• barbarity 
• inhumanity 
• malice 
• persecution 
• savagery 
• torture