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.

In 1855, Natalie is unsure who’s watching — a cruel producer?

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

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

From Salon • Apr. 3, 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

She looked at me, and looked at Sarah, and Sarah’s countenance wrung out of her watchful face a cruel smile.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens