different between cruel vs bestial

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: kro?o?l, IPA^(key): /k?u?(?)l/
• Rhymes: -??l, -u?l
• Hyphenation: cru?el

Etymology 1

From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin cr?d?lis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to cr?dus (“raw, crude”); see crude.

Adjective

cruel (comparative crueler or crueller or more cruel, superlative cruelest or cruellest or most cruel)

1. Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.

   Synonym: sadistic

   Antonym: merciful

2. Harsh; severe.
   • 2013, Ranulph Fiennes, Cold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth

     He was physically the toughest of us and wore five layers of polar clothing, but the cold was cruel and wore us down hour after hour.

   • 1951 C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia

     You may be sure they watched the cliffs on their left eagerly for any sign of a break or any place where they could climb them; but those cliffs remained cruel.

   Synonym: brutal

3. (slang) Cool; awesome; neat.

Derived terms

• be cruel to be kind
• cruel-hearted
• cruelly
• cruelness
• cruelsome
• goodbye, cruel world
• overcruel

Related terms

• crude
• cruelty

Translations

Adverb

cruel (not comparable)

1. (nonstandard) To a great degree; terribly.

Verb

cruel (third-person singular simple present cruels, present participle cruelling, simple past and past participle cruelled)

1. (chiefly Australia, New Zealand) To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success)
   • 1937, Vance Palmer, Legend for Sanderson, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, p. 226, [2]

     What cruelled him was that Imperial Hotel contract.

   • 2014, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April, 2014, [3]

     He was on the fringes of Test selection last year before a shoulder injury cruelled his chances.

   • 2015, The Age, 8 September, 2015, [4]

     A shortage of berth space for mega container ships will restrict capacity at Melbourne's port, cruelling Labor's attempts to get maximum value from its privatisation, a leading shipping expert has warned.

2. (Australia, transitive, intransitive) To violently provoke (a child) in the belief that this will make them more assertive.
   • 2007, Stewart Motha, "Reconciliation as Domination" in Scott Veitch (ed.), Law and the Politics of Reconciliation, Routledge, 2016, p. 83, [5]

     Violence is apparently introduced early by the practice of "cruelling": children even in their first months are physically punished and then encouraged to seek retribution by punishing the punisher.

   • 2009, Mark Colvin, ABC, "Peter Sutton discusses the politics of suffering in Aboriginal communities," 2 July, 2009, [6]

     […] I was referring to the area where you were talking about this practice of cruelling; the pinching of babies, sometimes so hard that their skin breaks and may go septic.

Etymology 2

Noun

cruel (countable and uncountable, plural cruels)

1. Alternative form of crewel

Further reading

• cruel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• cruel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• lucre, ulcer

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin cr?d?lis.

Adjective

cruel (epicene, plural crueles)

1. cruel

Related terms

• crueldá
• crudu

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin cr?d?lis.

Adjective

cruel (masculine and feminine plural cruels)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment

Related terms

• crueltat
• cru

Further reading

• “cruel” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From Old French cruel, from Latin cr?d?lis; either remade based on the Latin or evolved from the Old French form crual, possibly from a Vulgar Latin form *cr?d?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?y.?l/
• Homophones: cruels, cruelle, cruelles

Adjective

cruel (feminine singular cruelle, masculine plural cruels, feminine plural cruelles)

1. cruel
2. hard, painful

Synonyms

• féroce
• pénible

Derived terms

• cruellement

Related terms

• cruauté
• cru

Further reading

• “cruel” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• culer
• recul

Galician

Etymology

From Old Portuguese [Term?], from Latin cr?d?lis.

Adjective

cruel m or f (plural crueis)

1. cruel

Derived terms

• cruelment

Related terms

• crueldade
• cru

Middle English

Alternative forms

• kruell, cruele, cruwel, crewel, cruell, cruwelle, crewelle, cruelle, crowell

Etymology

From Old French crual, from Latin cr?d?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kriu????l/, /?kriu??l/, /?kriu??l/, /?kru?l/

Adjective

cruel

1. Merciless, cruel; revelling in another's pain.
2. Deleterious, injurious; conducive to suffering.
3. Unbearable, saddening, terrifying.
4. Strict, unforgiving, mean; not nice.
5. Savage, vicious, dangerous; displaying ferocity.
6. Bold, valiant, heroic (in war)
7. (rare) Sharp, acrid, bitter-tasting.

Derived terms

• cruelheed
• cruelly
• cruelnesse
• cruelte

Descendants

• English: cruel
• Scots: cruel

References

• “cr???l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-12.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese cruel, from Latin cr?d?lis.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /k?u.???/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /k?u.??w/
• Rhymes: -?w

Adjective

cruel (plural cruéis, comparable)

1. (of a person or creature) cruel (that intentionally causes or revels in pain and suffering)

   Synonym: bárbaro

2. (of a situation or occurrence) cruel; harsh; severe

   Synonyms: severo, terrível, pesado

3. (of a doubt or question) distressful

   Synonym: terrível

4. (of an occurrence) bloody; violent

   Synonyms: sangrento, cruento, sanguinolento

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldade
• cru

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish, from Latin cr?d?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?wel/, [?k?wel]

Adjective

cruel (plural crueles)

1. cruel, mean

Derived terms

• cruelmente

Related terms

• crueldad
• crudo

Further reading

• “cruel” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English bestial, from Old French bestial, from Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”) (whence English beast).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?s.ti.?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?s.t??l/, /?bis-/

Adjective

bestial (comparative more bestial, superlative most bestial)

1. (literally and figuratively) Beast-like
   • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act II, Scene 3, [1]

     Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, lines 753-4, [2]

     By thee adulterous lust was driven from men /

     Among the bestial herds to range […]

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, [3]

     This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth alone to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone.

Synonyms

• beastly
• animalian

Hypernyms

• faunal

Derived terms

• bestiality
• bestialize
• bestialization

Related terms

• beast
• bestiary

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle Scots bestiall, from Middle English bestaile, from Old French bestaille, from Late Latin b?sti?lia; later reinforced and remodelled on Middle French bestial, itself from Late Latin b?sti?lis.

Noun

bestial pl (plural only)

2. (Scotland, obsolete) Cattle.
   • 1845, The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Forfar, Kincardine (page 94)

     […] much must depend upon the way in which bestial are bought or reared, and the state of the markets when they are sold.

Anagrams

• Stabile, ableist, albites, astilbe, bastile, libates, stabile

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?s.tjal/
• Homophones: bestiale, bestiales

Adjective

bestial (feminine singular bestiale, masculine plural bestiaux, feminine plural bestiales)

1. bestial

Related terms

• bête

Further reading

• “bestial” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• baliste, établis

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”).

Adjective

bestial m or f (plural bestiais)

1. beastly
2. massive, huge, giant
3. tremendous, fantastic, awesome

Related terms

• bestia
• bestialidade

Middle English

Alternative forms

• beestial, beestyal, bestiall, bestialle, bestyal, bestyall

Etymology

From Old French bestial, from Late Latin b?sti?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?sti?a?l/, /?b?stial/, /?b??stial/

Adjective

bestial

1. animal (of or pertaining to animals)
2. physical; non-spiritual (of faculties, knowledge, etc.)
3. beastly, depraved (lacking human sensibility)
4. stupid, unlearned

Synonyms

• beestly (all senses)

Descendants

• English: bestial

References

• “b??sti??l(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old French

Etymology

First known attestation circa 1190, borrowed from Latin b?sti?lis.

Adjective

bestial m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bestiale)

1. bestial (of or relating to a beast)

Related terms

• beste

Descendants

• English: bestial
• French: bestial

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /b???tja?/
• Hyphenation: bes?ti?al

Adjective

bestial m or f (plural bestiais, comparable)

1. bestial; brutish
2. beastly

Related terms

• besta
• bestalidade

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bestial, Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bes.ti?al]

Adjective

bestial m or n (feminine singular bestial?, masculine plural bestiali, feminine and neuter plural bestiale)

1. bestial, animal
2. (informal) cool

Usage notes

As indicated by the informal meaning of "cool", this word does not have the same negative connotations as in English.

Declension

Synonyms

• animalic
• feroce
• fioros
• s?lbatic

Related terms

• bestialitate
• bestie

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin b?sti?lis, from Latin b?stia (“beast”).

Adjective

bestial (plural bestiales)

1. beastly
2. massive, huge, giant
3. tremendous, fantastic, awesome

Related terms

• bestia
• bestialidad