'Cruel' definitions:

Definition of 'cruel'

From: WordNet
adjective
(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" [syn: barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious]

Definition of 'Cruel'

From: GCIDE
  • Cruel \Cru"el\ (kr[udd]"[e^]l), n. See Crewel. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Cruel'

From: GCIDE
  • Cruel \Cru"el\ (kr[udd]"[e^]l), a. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
  • 1. Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [1913 Webster]
  • Behold a people cometh from the north country; . . . they are cruel and have no mercy. --Jer. vi. 22,23. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery. [1913 Webster]
  • Cruel wars, wasting the earth. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath for it was cruel. --Gen. xlix. 7. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Attended with cruetly; painful; harsh. [1913 Webster]
  • You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength. --Shak. [1913 Webster]