cruelty
noun
Simple meaning
An indifference to suffering or pleasure in inflicting suffering.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kroolteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹulti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A cruel act; a deliberate infliction of pain and suffering
The quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance
uncountable
An indifference to suffering or pleasure in inflicting suffering.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A cruel act; a deliberate infliction of pain and suffering
Used this way, cruelty is a reasonably familiar word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Cruelty is emotionally heavy: it suggests deep or lasting feeling, not a passing mood, so it can overstate a small reaction.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use cruelty
- “Treating animals with cruelty is unacceptable and should be stopped.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: cruel act
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.