cruel

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Are we still deserving of kindness when someone knows our darkest, most cruel impulses?

From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026

Baschek said the whale's breathing and reaction to rescuers had deteriorated, and that the chances of coaxing him out of the bay were so slim it would be cruel to try.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

Yet a few paragraphs later she describes the country with three adjectives, “big, cruel, and transcendent,” none of which is unambiguously positive, and urges readers to “make of it what we can.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

"The cruel irony is that AI-generated code requires more careful review than human-written code," software engineer Siddhant Khare wrote in a blog post.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Clare thought of those who’d abandoned him: the speeding car, the cruel badger.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman