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Cruelty
Definitions
- 1 An indifference to suffering or pleasure in inflicting suffering. uncountable
"Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare."
- 2 a cruel act; a deliberate infliction of pain and suffering wordnet
- 3 A cruel act. countable
"The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!"
- 4 the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance wordnet
- 5 feelings of extreme heartlessness wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English cruelte, from Old French crualté (French cruauté), from Latin crudelitas. By surface analysis, cruel + -ty.
See also for "cruelty"
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