Tra từ cruel - Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

cruel [cruel crueller cruellest] BrE [ˈkruːəl] NAmE [ˈkruːəl] adjective (cruel·ler, cruel·lest)
1. ~ (to sb/sth) having a desire to cause pain and suffering
•a cruel dictator
• I can't stand people who are cruel to animals.
• Her eyes were cruel and hard.
•Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind (= make sb suffer because it will be good for them later).
Opp: ↑kind
2. causing pain or suffering
•a cruel punishment/joke
• Her father's death was a cruel blow.
Derived Word: ↑cruelly

Word Origin:
Middle English: via Old French from Latin crudelis, related to crudus ‘raw, rough’.

Thesaurus:
cruel adj.
•He was a cruel dictator.
brutal • • savage • • barbaric • • vicious • • sadistic • • inhuman • • inhumane • • ruthless • • callous • • cold-blooded •
Opp: kind, Opp: humane
cruel/brutal/savage/barbaric/vicious/sadistic/inhuman/inhumane/ruthless/callous treatment
a/an cruel/brutal/savage/barbaric/vicious/sadistic/inhuman/ruthless/callous/cold-blooded act
cruel/brutal/sadistic torture
a brutal/savage/vicious/ruthless/cold-blooded attack
Cruel or brutal? Brutal is usually used to talk about murders or physical attacks. Cruel can also describe acts which cause mental pain. Cruel can vary in strength: it can mean ‘deliberately causing extreme pain’ or it can just mean ‘rather unkind’; brutal is always much stronger than ‘unkind’.

Example Bank:
•an extremely cruel regime
•He was known to be a cruel dictator.
•I can't stand people who are cruel to animals.
•Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.