Cru"el (kr&udd;"&ebreve;l), a. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis,
fr. crudus. See Crude.]
1. Disposed to give pain to
others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless.
Behold a people cometh from the north country; . . . they are cruel and have no mercy.
Jer. vi. 22,23.
2. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery.
Cruel wars, wasting the earth.
Milton.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath for it was cruel.
Gen. xlix.
7.
3. Attended with cruetly; painful; harsh.
You have seen
cruel proof of this man's strength.
Shak.
Cru"el (kr&udd;"&ebreve;l), n. See Crewel.
Hear it pronounced