Basic Details
Word: Cruelty
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Behaviour that causes pain or suffering to people or animals on purpose, without caring.
Synonyms: brutality, harshness, savagery, unkindness
Antonyms: kindness, compassion, mercy, gentleness
How to Spell Cruelty
Syllables: cru - el - ty
Tricky part: It is cruel + ty with nothing changed or added. Students slip in an extra i (cruelity) by thinking of words like reality.
Watch out for: cruelity, crulty, crualty, cruetly
Memory tip: Cruel + ty, the same pattern as loyal and loyalty: write the adjective whole, then add ty.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The film shows the cruelty of child labour.
Example 2: Keeping a parrot in a tiny cage is a form of cruelty.
Example 3: The court punished the owner for cruelty to his horses.
Fun Fact
India's Parliament passed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1960, and the Animal Welfare Board of India was set up under it.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Stories of the tyrant's ylcteru spread from village to village.
a) culture
b) cruelty
c) curtsey
d) crudely
Show answer
b) cruelty. Seven letters with a y and an l but no s or d: culture lacks the y, curtsey needs an s and crudely needs a d.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word cruelty as used in the sentence:
The villagers were shocked by the cruelty shown to the stray dogs.
a) brutality
b) savagery
c) compassion
d) harshness
Show answer
c) compassion. Brutality, savagery and harshness are all close to cruelty; compassion is caring about suffering.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
cruelity
a) e
b) u
c) i
d) l
Show answer
c) i. Cruel takes ty straight on, as loyal does in loyalty, so the i is not needed.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Mental cruelty refers to ____.
a) a gift for solving puzzles
b) hurting someone through words and treatment
c) a fear of going to hospital
d) a habit of forgetting names
Show answer
b) hurting someone through words and treatment
2. Which word means kindness shown to someone you could punish?
a) mischief
b) mercy
c) malice
d) menace
Show answer
b) mercy
