Cruel
Cruel adjective - Difficult to endure.
Usage example: the cruel climate of the Arctic
Forbidding and cruel are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Forbidding" instead an adjective "Cruel".
Forbidding
Forbidding adjective - Causing fear.
Cruel and forbidding are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Cruel" instead an adjective "Forbidding".
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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Daine finds his looks forbidding and cruel until she actually gets to know him.
Source: Literature / The Immortals -
Jerk Ass Has A Point: Commander Kido forbidding Yūma to help protect Chika during the invasion might have been a cruel and partially meant to upset Yūma and Osamu, but his reasoning was actually very sound.
Source: Manga / World Trigger
Cite this Source
Forbidding and Cruel. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 09, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/forbidding
Cruel & Forbidding. N.p., 2016. Web. 09 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/forbidding>.
Forbidding or Cruel. 2016. Accessed August 09, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/forbidding.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "cruel" and "forbidding" have occurred on timeline