cruelly

/'kruili/

Thân thiện

The teacher treated his students cruelly.

Definition

1. Adverb:
   • In a cruel manner; causing pain or suffering without care or compassion: Describes an action performed with deliberate intent to inflict pain, distress, or hardship.
   • To an extreme or severe degree; very harshly: Used to intensify an adjective, describing something as being unpleasantly extreme.

Usage

• As an adverb, "cruelly" modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs to describe the manner or degree of an action or quality.
• It indicates either the presence of cruelty or an excessive, harsh intensity.

Examples

• Modifying a verb (manner):
  • The dictator cruelly suppressed any form of dissent. (The suppression was done in a brutal, merciless way.)
  • She was cruelly teased by her classmates for her accent. (The teasing was mean-spirited and caused emotional pain.)
• Modifying an adjective (degree):
  • The desert sun was cruelly hot. (The heat was extremely and unpleasantly intense.)
  • His hopes were cruelly dashed by the news. (His hopes were destroyed in a very harsh and disappointing way.)

Advanced Usage

• "cruelly honest": Being truthful in a way that is unnecessarily harsh or hurtful.
  • Her feedback, while accurate, was cruelly honest and left him feeling devastated.
• "cruelly ironic": Describing a situation where the irony is particularly harsh or painful.
  • It was cruelly ironic that the firefighter's own home burned down.

Variants and Related Words

• Cruel (adjective): Willing to cause pain or suffering; lacking kindness.
  • a cruel remark
• Cruelty (noun): Cruel behavior or treatment.
  • the cruelty of war

Synonyms

• Brutally: In a savage, violent manner.
• Savagely: In a fierce, violent, or cruel way.
• Harshly: In a severe, strict, or unkind manner.
• Mercilessly: Without mercy or pity.
• Viciously: In a cruel or violent manner.

Antonyms

• Kindly: In a kind, gentle manner.
• Compassionately: In a sympathetic, caring manner.
• Gently: In a mild, soft, or careful way.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• To be cruelly disappointed: To be let down in a particularly severe or painful way.
  • Fans were cruelly disappointed when the concert was canceled at the last minute.
• A cruelly short time: An unfairly or painfully brief period.
  • They had only a cruelly short time together before he was deployed overseas.

Học thuật

Adverb

1. with cruelty
   • he treated his students cruelly
2. excessively
   • a cruelly bitter winter