Synonyms of cruelty

cruelty

noun

ˈkrü(-ə)l-tē 

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• brutality
• atrocity
• barbarity
• inhumanity
• savagery
• sadism
• savageness
• heartlessness
• cruelness
• murderousness
• viciousness
• fiendishness
• barbarousness
• wantonness
• inhumanness
• truculence
• ruthlessness
• mercilessness
• meanness
• atrociousness
• ferocity
• oppressiveness
• pitilessness
• fierceness
• grimness
• ferociousness
• bloodthirstiness
• spitefulness
• malevolence
• maliciousness
• hatefulness
• hard-heartedness
• bloodlust
• malignity
• unfeelingness
• harshness
• sanguinity
• fellness
• nastiness
• sanguineness
• despitefulness
• cattiness
• heavy-handedness
• hardhandedness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compassion
• sympathy
• humanity
• kindness
• humaneness
• tenderness
• benignity
• warmth
• tenderheartedness
• kindheartedness
• pity
• warmness
• good-heartedness
• mercy
• leniency
• clemency
• warmheartedness
• charitableness
• mercifulness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of cruelty

The woman pleaded guilty on Jan. 27 to assault with a dangerous weapon; assault by striking, beating, and wounding; and cruelty to children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a Jan. 28 news release. —Julia Marnin, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2025

Ordinary Syrians like Hamed and Walaa are aghast as the scale of their criminal cruelty continues to be revealed. —Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Jan. 2025

For decades, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, also known as the Florida School for Boys, was a place of cruelty and neglect disguised as rehabilitation. —Ray Watford, Sun Sentinel, 28 Jan. 2025

Murthy has been arrested on charges of murder; cruelty to a married woman by husband or in-law; and tampering with evidence, according to the police statement. —Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 28 Jan. 2025