Crossword Dictionary
CRUEL
barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious - a
(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"
Synonyms
atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, brute, butcherly, fiendish, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, sadistic, savage, truculent, vicious, wanton
Examples
Seems like it would appeal to your cruel streak of messing with people to see what they'll do.
They were among the fiercest and most cruel of the pirates of the north coast of Africa.
I also saw poor Niobe with her youngest child clinging close to her while she implored the cruel goddess not to kill her last darling.
Etymology
c. 1200, "stern;" early 13c., of suffering, death, etc., "attended by much distress;" c. 1300, "inclined or willing to make another suffer, disposed to inflict suffering, mental or physical, on any sentient being," from Old French cruel (12c.), earlier crudel, from Latin crudelis "rude, unfeeling; cruel, hard-hearted," related to crudus "rough, raw, bloody" (see crude). Related: Cruelly.