cruelty

Definition

An indifference to suffering or pleasure in inflicting suffering.

Etymology

From Middle English cruelte, from Old French crualté (French cruauté), from Latin crudelitas. By surface analysis, cruel + -ty.

Example Sentences

• "Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare."
• "The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!"
• "Gay songwriter behind bars! Needs sincere letter to help ease the tension from cruelties inside the joint."