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
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Recent Examples of cruelty
This case highlights how neglect, one of the most common forms of animal cruelty, leads to severe suffering when animals are left without adequate food, water, shelter, or medical care.
—
Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 May 2025
The incident happened in North Fort Myers in Florida on May 13 when members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Agriculture Unit responded to a call from a ranch of Sharon Drive regarding reports of animal cruelty, according to a statement from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
—Jon Haworth, ABC News, 19 May 2025
Crimes against society, which include animal cruelty cases, drug violations, weapon law violations and pornography or obscene material crimes, dropped as a whole by 4.4% in 2024, the preliminary data show.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 15 May 2025
Keisha is a straight-A student, a perfectionist and also the object of social media cruelty.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruelty
Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 May 2025
The incident happened in North Fort Myers in Florida on May 13 when members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Agriculture Unit responded to a call from a ranch of Sharon Drive regarding reports of animal cruelty, according to a statement from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
—Jon Haworth, ABC News, 19 May 2025
Crimes against society, which include animal cruelty cases, drug violations, weapon law violations and pornography or obscene material crimes, dropped as a whole by 4.4% in 2024, the preliminary data show.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 15 May 2025
Keisha is a straight-A student, a perfectionist and also the object of social media cruelty.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cruelty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cruelty
Noun
-
Trump’s allusions to police brutality – the very thing demonstrators were protesting – only seemed to rile them and underscore what was at stake.—
Chelsea Bailey,
CNN Money,
24 May 2025
-
The jury has seen his brutality in the harrowing video at the InterContinental Hotel and photographs of her injuries.—
Elizabeth Geddes,
Rolling Stone,
23 May 2025
Noun
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Pakistan, which has a history of providing clandestine support to the Taliban, has blamed the latter for providing a safe haven to terrorists who commit atrocities on Pakistani soil.—
Hasan Ali,
Christian Science Monitor,
19 May 2025
-
But fighting had broken out across Sudan, and reports of atrocities were filtering in from the countryside: mass rapes, mass executions, torture.—
Nicolas Niarchos,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cruelty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cruelty. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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