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cruelty

UK/ˈkɹuː(.ə)lti/US/ˈkɹu(.ə)lti/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,601 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: cruelties

Cruelty is the deliberate causing of pain or suffering. An act of cruelty, cruelty to animals, mental cruelty.

The deliberateness is what makes it — harm through carelessness is not cruelty, and the law follows that distinction. Cruelty to animals is a criminal offence everywhere in Europe, and cruelty-free is a claim about testing rather than about ingredients.

Definitions of cruelty

  1. 1nouncrueltyThe deliberate causing of pain or suffering.B2

    “The man was fined for cruelty after keeping his dogs locked in a cold shed without food.”

cruelty is a harming.

Where it comes from

Old French crualte comes from Latin crudelitas, from crudelis, cruel, from crudus, raw or bloody.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *krewh₂-

  2. Latin

    crudelitas

  3. Old French

    crualté

  4. Middle English

    cruelte

  5. English, today

    cruelty

From Middle English cruelte, from Old French crualté (French cruauté), from Latin crudelitas. by surface analysis, cruel + -ty.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

cruelty in the wild

  • The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty.

    American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

  • A humane society is a group that aims to stop cruelty to animals.

    Humane society

  • Cosmetics that have been produced without any testing on animals are sometimes known as "cruelty-free cosmetics".

    Testing cosmetics on animals

  • Some popular cruelty-free beauty brands include E.L.F., Charlotte Tilbury, Farsali, Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Glow Recipe and others.

    Testing cosmetics on animals

  • BWC spread the concept that one could easily look beautiful, without inflicting cruelty and death upon any creature.

    Beauty Without Cruelty

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the crualté family

cruelty

cruelty — used about once every 1,030 pages · #4,601 · point at the bar for the others

  • cruel