CRUELTY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Cruelty

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/krˈulti/ /krˈuəlti/ Listen

noun

Cruelty n. (pl. cruelties)

The attribute or quality of being cruel; a disposition to give unnecessary pain or suffering to others; inhumanity; barbarity. "Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty."

A cruel and barbarous deed; inhuman treatment; the act of willfully causing unnecessary pain. "Cruelties worthy of the dungeons of the Inquisition." "Macaulay."

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Etymology of 'Cruelty'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cruelty" Quotes from Famous Books

... villagers, stood them up in a line, then shouted, "Save yourselves." Thirteen were shot in the back and the rest escaped. What words to find for this barbarism? But is it barbarism and not rather the refined cruelty of civilization? Is it not better then to remain a primitive, with a beautiful ...

— Lige on the Line of March - An American Girl's Experiences When the Germans Came Through Belgium • Glenna Lindsley Bigelow

... be kept going, and if letters are bright, chatty, and without a word of indiscreet reproach for any lack of attention on his part, depend upon it he will ultimately melt into penitence and become a self-accused rascal. Of course I have known many cases where unjustifiable cruelty has been shown by sailors in not writing and in not answering letters sent to them by their wives, mothers or sisters. They did not really mean to cause suffering. They merely drifted into a condition of recklessness which perhaps their ...

— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman

... England" and Douglas Jerrold his inimitable "Caudle Lectures." Thomas Hood occasionally contributed, but his immortal "Song of the Shirt" was his chef-d'oeuvre. Coventry Patmore contributed once to Punch; his verses denounced General Pellisier and his cruelty at the caves of Dahra. Laman Blanchard occasionally wrote; his best poem was one on the marriage and temporary retirement of charming Mrs. Nisbett. In 1846 Thackeray's "Snobs of England" was highly successful. Richard Doyle's "Manners and Customs of ye English" brought Punch much increase. ...

— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... and is doing to prevent the slaughter of birds in all parts of the United States, to develop bird sanctuaries and inaugurate protective legislation. Indeed to it, more than to all other agencies combined, is due the credit of eliminating so much of the Prussianlike cruelty toward birds that once characterized American treatment of them, from the ...

— Bird Neighbors • Neltje Blanchan

... repented: "I am sorry I ran away from you," she is said to have written, "and if you will come out here for me we will make up and live happily ever after." He came out and was arrested and thrown in jail, charged with extreme cruelty. The lady got her divorce within three weeks instead of six months, as she was able to serve the summons upon her husband in the State of Nevada. After that her sweetheart came out and they were married. I am told that some three years later the husband brought suit ...

— Reno - A Book of Short Stories and Information • Lilyan Stratton

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