Cruel
Cruel adjective - Having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Usage example: the bully was fond of making cruel little jabs at his victim's sore points
Unkind is a synonym for cruel in behaviour topic. In some cases you can use "Unkind" instead an adjective "Cruel", when it comes to topics like barbarous, brutal, vicious, callous.
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
- The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything."You people with hearts," he said, "have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful."
Source: Hollywood Psych -
As the Good Book Says: The film cites Exodus 20:5 as the reason why fate is so unkind to Nasa, her grandfather being a cruel man who humiliated his wife by openly having an affair.
Source: Film / Call Her Savage -
His biography Boy has many cruel headmasters who were unkind to students, such as caning them for cheating without evidence, and even leaving the door to their office open when caning so others could hear the boys scream.
Source: Dean Bitterman
Cite this Source
Unkind and Cruel. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/unkind
Cruel & Unkind. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/unkind>.
Unkind or Cruel. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/cruel/unkind.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "cruel" and "unkind" have occurred on timeline