Antonyms for cruel
ˈkru əlcru·el

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.3 / 4 votes

1. crueladjective

   Antonyms:
   merciful

   Synonyms:
   sadistic, vicious, brutal

2. crueladjective

   Not nice; mean; heartless.

   The supervisor was very cruel to Josh, as he would always give Josh the hardest, most degrading work he could find.

   Antonyms:
   merciful

   Synonyms:
   vicious, sadistic, brutal

3. crueladjective

   Cool; awesome; neat.

   Synonyms:
   sadistic, brutal, vicious

   Antonyms:
   merciful

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.8 / 4 votes

1. cruel

   Whatever is not civilized is barbarian; barbaric indicates rude magnificence, uncultured richness; as, barbaric splendor, a barbaric melody. Barbarous refers to the worst side of barbarian life, and to revolting acts, especially of cruelty, such as a civilized man would not be expected to do; as, a barbarous deed. We may, however, say barbarous nations, barbarous tribes, without implying anything more than want of civilization and culture. Savage is more distinctly bloodthirsty than barbarous. In this sense we speak of a savage beast and of barbarous usage.

   Antonyms:
   civilized, courtly, cultured, delicate, elegant, graceful, humane, nice, polite, refined, tender, urbane

   Synonyms:
   atrocious, barbarian, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, inhuman, merciless, rude, savage, uncivilized, uncouth, untamed

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 3 votes

1. cruel

   Antonyms:
   humane, forbearing, generous, merciful, forgiving, benevolent, beneficent

   Synonyms:
   savage, barbarous, pittiless, inexorable, unrelenting, ruthless, truculent, hard-hearted, harsh, unmerciful, brutal, inhuman, maleficent, malignant

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:4.7 / 7 votes

1. barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, viciousadjective

   (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"

   Antonyms:
   humane

   Synonyms:
   wild, uncivilized, fierce, savage, deplorable, reprehensible, fell, beastly, unrelenting, venomous, criminal, brute(a), condemnable, roughshod, barbaric, evil, feral, poisonous, barbarous, vicious, furious, ferocious, barbarian, heavy-handed, brutish, bestial, brutal, ferine, uncivilised

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. crueladjective

   Synonyms:
   pitiless, merciless, inhuman, unmerciful, fell, relentless, ruthless, truculent, brutal, unfeeling, severe, inexorable, incompassionate, implacable

Editors ContributionRate these antonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. vicious

   she is a cruel girl.

   Submitted by rqollaku4 on December 2, 2019  

2. ridiculed

   Submitted by anonymous on December 16, 2020  

How to use cruel in a sentence?

1. Ali Araghchi:

   It an exciting day for all of us, iranians are much more hopeful and optimistic compared to the time we were under cruel sanctions. Peace of mind will be a significant part of our future.

2. Geraldo Rivera:

   I'm generally pro-union, but this walkout was clumsy, it was spiteful. It was absolutely devastating for these children's well-being. Where are they going to eat, some of these families now? I think it's absolutely awful. This is … absolutely cruel what they have done to these children.

3. Thomas Paine:

   Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.

4. Amnesty International:

   The notion that Raif Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous.

5. Mark DeBofsky:

   It strikes me as needlessly cruel.

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