different between sharp vs cruel

English

Etymology

From Middle English scharp, from Old English s?earp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-. Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scharp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian ????? (š?erba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”), from *(s)ker- (“to cut”). More at shear.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???p/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???p/
• Rhymes: -??(?)p

Adjective

sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)

1. Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut easily; not obtuse or rounded.

2. (colloquial) Intelligent.
3. (music) Higher than usual by one semitone (denoted by the symbol ? after the name of the note).
4. (music) Higher in pitch than required.

5. Having an intense, acrid flavour.

6. Sudden and intense.

   • She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact.

7. (colloquial) Illegal or dishonest.

8. (colloquial) Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interests; shrewd.
9. Exact, precise, accurate; keen.
11. Offensive, critical, or acrimonious.

12. (colloquial) Stylish or attractive.

13. Observant; alert; acute.

14. Forming a small angle; especially, forming an angle of less than ninety degrees.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,

      The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block at the junction, known as Liberty Point

15. Steep; precipitous; abrupt.

16. (mathematics, of a statement) Said of as extreme a value as possible.

17. (chess) Tactical; risky.
    • 1963, Max Euwe, Chess Master Vs. Chess Amateur (page xviii)

      Time and time again, the amateur player has lost the opportunity to make the really best move because he felt bound to follow some chess "rule" he had learned, rather than to make the sharp move which was indicated by the position.

    • 1975, Lud?k Pachman, Decisive Games in Chess History (page 64)

      In such situations most chess players choose the obvious and logical way: they go in for sharp play. However, not everyone is a natural attacking player […]

18. Piercing; keen; severe; painful.
19. Eager or keen in pursuit; impatient for gratification.

20. (obsolete) Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous.
21. Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty.
22. (phonetics, dated) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone; aspirated; unvoiced.
23. (obsolete) Hungry.
    • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:

      “[W]hy this last week we ha'n't had nothing at all but some dry musty red herrings; so you may think, Miss, we're kept pretty sharp!”

Synonyms

• (able to cut easily): keen, razor, razor-sharp
• (intelligent): brainy, bright, intelligent, keen, smart, witty
• (able to pierce easily): pointed
• (having an intense and acrid flavour): acrid, pungent
• (sudden and intense): abrupt, acute, stabbing
• (illegal, dishonest): dishonest, dodgy, illegal, illicit, underhand
• (accurate): accurate, exact, keen, precise
• (critical): acrimonious, bitter, cutting, harsh, hostile, nasty
• (stylish, attractive): chic, elegant, smart, stylish
• (observant): acute, alert, keen, observant, sharp-eyed

Antonyms

• (able to cut easily): blunt, dull
• (intelligent): dim, dim-witted, slow, slow-witted, thick
• (able to pierce easily): blunt
• (higher than usual by one semitone): flat
• (music: higher in pitch than required): flat
• (having an intense and acrid flavour): bland, insipid, tasteless
• (sudden and intense): dull
• (illegal, dishonest): above-board, honest, legit, legitimate, reputable
• (accurate): inaccurate, imprecise
• (critical): complimentary, flattering, friendly, kind, nice
• (stylish, attractive): inelegant, scruffy, shabby
• (observant): unobservant

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)

1. To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply.
   • 1853, Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum

     The iron plates rang sharp, but turn'd the spear
2. (not comparable) Exactly.

3. (music) In a higher pitch than is correct or desirable.

Synonyms

• (exactly): exactly, on the dot (of time), precisely; see also Thesaurus:exactly

Translations

Noun

sharp (plural sharps)

1. (music) The symbol ?, placed after the name of a note in the key signature or before a note on the staff to indicate that the note is to be played a semitone higher.

2. (music) A note that is played a semitone higher than usual; denoted by the name of the note that is followed by the symbol ?.
3. (music) A note that is sharp in a particular key.

4. (music) The scale having a particular sharp note as its tonic.

5. (usually in the plural) Something that is sharp.
   1. (medicine) A hypodermic syringe.
   2. (medicine, dated) A scalpel or other edged instrument used in surgery.
   3. A sharp tool or weapon.
   • c. 1700 Jeremy Collier, On Duelling

     If butchers had but the manners to go to sharps, gentlemen would be contented with a rubber at cuffs.

6. A dishonest person; a cheater.

   This usage is often classified as variant spelling of shark, and unrelated to the 'pointed' or 'cutting' meanings of sharp.

7. Part of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
   • 1858, Charles Kingsley, "Chalk Stream Studies", in Fraser's Magazine

     here are good fish to be picked out of sharps and stop-holes into the water-tables

8. A sewing needle with a very slender point, more pointed than a blunt or a between.
9. (in the plural) Fine particles of husk mixed with coarse particle of flour of cereals; middlings.
   • 1954, Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead, Dorothy 2010, p. 21:

     While he worked he talked to his ducks, who were waddling about hopefully, as it was almost time for the red bucket to be filled with sharps and potato-peelings.

10. (slang, dated) An expert.
11. A sharpie (member of Australian gangs of the 1960s and 1970s).

Derived terms

• cardsharp, card sharp
• double sharp

Translations

See also

• (music) accidental, flat, natural
• ?

Verb

sharp (third-person singular simple present sharps, present participle sharping, simple past and past participle sharped)

1. (music) To raise the pitch of a note half a step making a natural note a sharp.

2. To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To sharpen.

Translations

References

• sharp at OneLook Dictionary Search
• sharp in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Spahr, harps, shrap

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.