cruelty

Word family

cru·el·ty /ˈkruːəlti/ noun (plural cruelties)

1 [countableC, uncountableU]CRUEL behaviour or actions that deliberately cause pain to people or animals 残忍，残酷，残暴 OPP kindness

The children had suffered cruelty and neglect.

这些孩子遭受虐待，无人照管。

There was a hint of cruelty in Brian’s smile.

布赖恩的微笑里流露出一丝残暴。

cruelty to

cruelty to animals

对动物的虐待

cruelty of

the cruelty of the slave trade

买卖奴隶的残忍行为

The deliberate cruelty of his words cut her like a knife.

他故意说的那些刻薄的话让她心如刀割。

the cruelties of war

战争的残酷

2 [uncountableU]UNFAIR the unfairness of something that happens 不公平，不公正

the cruelty of life

生活的残酷

Examples from the Corpus

cruelty• His wife denies 20 cruelty charges.• Burnett has campaigned against cruelty to animals for more than 20 years.• You have to go beyond that, transcend revenge and pique and cruelty and cowardice.• Through the passing days, the biting cruelty of it all slowly healed, leaving only the scar tissue.• Her black eye and bruises were undeniable evidence of his cruelty.• There was an edge of cruelty to their jokes.• Each year animal welfare groups document instances of cruelty, but prosecutions have been rare.• There is in these miniatures an arresting potion of cruelty.• There have been reports of cruelty and rape from the war zone.• Within the familiarity of marriage there are many subtle ways of showing anger, contempt or cruelty.• What kind of person could treat a fellow human being with such cruelty?• But the horror which writers such as Dickens expressed at the cruelty of his times was prompted by no such knowledge.• Khrushchev officially revealed the cruelties of Stalin's regime.

cruelty to• Cruelty to animals is punishable by law.

Chinese

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