Cruel and Desperate

Related words

Cruel adjective - Having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others.

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Desperate and cruel are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Desperate" instead an adjective "Cruel".

Nearby Words: cruelty, cruelly

Desperate adjective - Feeling or showing no hope.

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Cruel and desperate are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Cruel" instead an adjective "Desperate".

Nearby Words: desperately, desperation

Kaiba played a desperate and cruel Batman Gambit in order to win: he stood on the edge of the castle wall and threatened to jump to his death if Yugi attacked his Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Source: Heroic BSOD / Anime and Manga
Then, the second half takes a long, steady nosedive down the cynical end: the heroes take increasingly desperate and cruel acts to save Gensokyo that lead to pointlessly tragic outcomes, leading to the near-end of Gensokyo.

Source: Web Animation / Diamond in the Rough (Touhou)
Usually used to show the pettiness of the insulter; if the person they're criticising is in fact rather thin, it comes off as desperate, and if they are a bit overweight, it just seems cruel.

Source: You Are Fat

Cite this Source

Desperate and Cruel. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/desperate

Cruel & Desperate. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/desperate>.

Desperate or Cruel. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/desperate.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "cruel" and "desperate" have occurred on timeline