How to Use cruel in a Sentence

cruel

adjective
  • Hunger is a cruel fact of nature.
  • The cruelest part is that the good ones are mixed with the bad ones.
    — Matt Rivers, ABC News, 9 Apr. 2025
  • The Bible tells us that jealousy is as cruel as the grave.
    — Lisa Respers France, CNN, 13 Aug. 2021
  • The measure passed Thursday is one of the cruelest yet.
    — Tori Otten, The New Republic, 4 May 2023
  • As the clock winds down, Fenn might be in for a cruel summer.
    — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2023
  • It’s the cruel racist joke that still hangs above the Statehouse door.
    — al, 16 Feb. 2022
  • Jokes that didn’t land with the squad The kids in Bad Influence say the pranks were the most cruel.
    — Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Getting him a tiger to care for and be mauled by would be just — but cruel to the tiger.
    — Judge John Hodgman, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2020
  • The reality is, to go on the run with the child is cruel and not fair.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 5 Mar. 2024
  • It’s a cruel act from a boy who is supposed to be good.
    — Shannon Carlin, refinery29.com, 13 Oct. 2020
  • But no more cruel than denying him for the past 35 years.
    — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Mar. 2025
  • The sport was very cruel in those decades, the sixties, the seventies and part of the eighties.
    — Jim Clash, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Seems a cruel twist of fate that Daniels could find top-flight starters when the rest of the club was falling apart.
    — Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 8 Dec. 2020
  • The brides did indeed find a strange (and cruel) way of showing it.
    — R. Eric Thomas, The Denver Post, 3 Oct. 2024
  • Online trolls told me the things my own brain was telling me at its cruelest.
    — Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 8 July 2024
  • The former is humble and kind, the latter is rich and cruel.
    — Jessica Roiz, Billboard, 6 Apr. 2023
  • But the school’s photographer assigned me to the back row, next to the tallest boy in the class—such cruel fate!
    — Thessaly La Force, Vogue, 18 Jan. 2024
  • To do that to a writer — or to anyone about their work — is cruel.
    — Laurie Hertzel, Chicago Tribune, 26 Nov. 2022
  • Fame has its burdens, some of which can be cruel to the psyche.
    — Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 24 May 2022
  • Men make choices and can be quite cruel when caught up in evil.
    — Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 19 July 2021
  • The need to be cruel by some people will always amaze me.
    — Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 16 Dec. 2020
  • Of course, returning the cat at this point would be cruel.
    — John Hodgman, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2022
  • Shahana Goswami plays the lead role of a widow who lands the job of a cop due to life’s cruel twists.
    — Sweta Kaushal, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
  • Shih has a rich voice and a stillness in his manner that makes his cruel words linger.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023
  • Nick Lowe and Shakespeare were wrong, about having to be cruel to be kind.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2022
  • His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, sought to show that his past had formed him, but there was a cruel irony in the reference.
    — Gaby Wood, Vogue, 21 Feb. 2026
  • My love goes out to his family, and to all those battling this cruel disease, as well as all those caring for someone battling it.
    — Kimi Robinson, USA Today, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The cruelest trick our minds play on us is convincing us that inaction is safe.
    — Brendan Keegan, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 2026
  • The cruelest room Bree, meanwhile, walks into an ambush.
    — Jp Mangalindan, Time, 17 Feb. 2026
  • The twists verge on too cruel, the siblings too close, and for some people watching, the story will just be too much.
    — David Opie, IndieWire, 15 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cruel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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