as in brutality
disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others
centuries after he ravaged Europe, Attila the Hun remains notorious for his cruelty
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cruelty
Boelter has been charged with state and federal crimes, including murder and animal cruelty, and has pleaded not guilty.
—
Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2025
Even the most well-meaning of people have their good intentions curdle into cruelty when reflected through the prism of corporate life.
—Zachary Lee, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
But that tale of someone brought into a world that treated him with cruelty and contempt never left him.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2025
It’s revealed that Sklar was Lori’s inspiration as a child to become an artist, only to crush that spark a dozen or so years later with stinging cruelty.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruelty
Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2025
Even the most well-meaning of people have their good intentions curdle into cruelty when reflected through the prism of corporate life.
—Zachary Lee, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2025
But that tale of someone brought into a world that treated him with cruelty and contempt never left him.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 Sep. 2025
It’s revealed that Sklar was Lori’s inspiration as a child to become an artist, only to crush that spark a dozen or so years later with stinging cruelty.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruelty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cruelty
Noun
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He was also convicted in April of distributing steroids and altering records to try and cover it up, which carries twice as much potential prison time as plotting to commit police brutality.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
19 Sep. 2025
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We’ve all been cast adrift in the cognitive dissonance between the visceral seriousness of the crime and the abject flippancy of the shooter, the brutality of the shooting and the memes reacting to Kirk’s bigoted views.—
Raven Smith,
Vogue,
18 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Graphic videos of both atrocities spread quickly and widely online this week, appearing in people's social media feeds, often with little-to-no warning.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
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Critics have also pointed to the fact that Japanese educational syllabi have long glossed over wartime atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cruelty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cruelty. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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