adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a cruel fate
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She suffered a cruel fate at the hands of her captors.
a cruel/devastating/crushing blow (= extremely hard to bear )
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Her loss came as a devastating blow to her father.
a cruel/sick joke (= very unkind )
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When I heard he had cancer, at first I thought it was some kind of sick joke.
a new/cruel/unexpected/strange etc twist
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The robbery took a deadly new twist as the robber pulled out a gun.
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an unexpected twist in the plot
cold/cruel (= unfriendly or unkind )
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He smiled, but his blue eyes were cold and cruel.
tragic/cruel/bitter etc irony
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The tragic irony is that the drug was supposed to save lives.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
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Her flailing hand slipped down to the pack, wrenching its cords open, just as cruel fingers seized her arm.
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This process has included verbal denigration as well as cruel and unusual treatment of those who are traditionally perceived as outsiders.
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Rebekah's scheming is as cruel and as ruthless as Sarah's treatment of Hagar and Ishmael.
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Not very nice, but hardly as cruel as what would follow.
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They think they look all sweet, and underneath they're as cruel as cruel.
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The effort to deny these needs is as cruel as the pre-feminist effort to deny women their minds.
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Bonds can be as cruel as torture if applied with enough viciousness.
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Let me show you that all men aren't as cruel and immature as your retarded merchant banker.
how
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How I have missed you and how cruel your mistress is.
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Loads of people didn't half tell the council how cruel it was.
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But after I left her, I realized how cruel I had been.
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He reminisced how loyal he had been to his firm and how cruel he felt was his reward.
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Poor child! How cruel he had been to her!
more
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What is certain is that the discipline imposed on them was more complex, more capricious and more cruel .
most
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Without failure, Earth might never discover your power and strength to defuse the most cruel of destructive experiences in human lives.
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Now, most cruel of all, it was Federer, and Wimbledon will surely never be the same again.
so
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He was being so unfair, so cruel !
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No, how can I be so cruel ?
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How could his kidnappers be so cruel and not explain their reasons why?
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It destroys him, I am so cruel .
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Coincidence couldn't be so cruel , so twisted, could it?
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It seems so cruel that I did not know by instinct when the blow fell on two hearts so close to mine!
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He was so cruel at times, so utterly ruthless.
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If Oliver can only come part of the way with us it will not seem so cruel .
too
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It's too cruel if you are gone.
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No weapon would be too cruel , no tactic too extreme, on either side.
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He had been too cruel to her.
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There is one way to sharpen their appetites, but it's too cruel to mention.
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But there are some truths too cruel , before the faces one has to announce them to, to be told.
very
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To dream can be very cruel .
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I had heard that her husband had been very cruel to her.
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It had been a very cruel murder.
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That his bravery was ended so abruptly and unexpectedly seems very cruel .
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Perhaps you know that I married a man who was very cruel to me.
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And again, children can be very cruel .
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If anyone asks how you treated me, I will tell them the truth, that you were very cruel to me.
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Some of our friends and neighbours were very cruel to me.
■ NOUN
blow
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That was a cruel blow for Howard Wilkinson's team, who had made a committed, controlled and commanding start.
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This had been a cruel blow , but it wouldn't stop her from ensuring that justice was done.
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It would have been an unnecessary and cruel blow for her to see her old home in its state of decay.
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The fact Pears could be ruled out of the crunch game at Molineux is a cruel blow after his superb season.
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It is a cruel blow and one that again underlines the inconsistency of the red card law.
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He wanted to give comfort, and protect her from the cruel blow life had dealt her.
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Yet with their very first attack, the visitors struck a cruel blow .
irony
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By a cruel irony , it was the sixth anniversary of their engagement.
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There was, indeed, a kind of cruel irony in the collapse of the irrigation companies.
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This is a particularly cruel irony because as the 1911 census revealed doctors had the smallest families of all categories of occupations.
joke
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He hated Big Tom Fish, with his cruel jokes and flashing green eyes and rough workman's hands.
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But the free-range, corn-fed chicken was the victim of a cruel joke .
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The gods were enjoying their own cruel joke !
man
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By his hard eyes, and set mouth, by the way he spoke, that he was a cruel man ?
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Archelaus was a cruel man and Joseph has no wish to live under his rule.
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Mr Sowerberry was not a cruel man , but he had no choice.
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Many people have condemned Herod as a cruel man and certainly he showed a cruel streak, especially towards his own family.
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Pepe has a lot in common with Boris, thought Ellis: they're both strong, cruel men without decency or compassion.
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The same cruel man as before.
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My prisoner was clearly a hard, cruel man .
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This Shylock was a money-lender and a cruel man - everyone hated him.
twist
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These accounts portray life behind bars as a cruel twist on the Hobbesian description of life: nasty, brutish and long.
world
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It can also be a hard, cruel world where your face and figure may not fit.
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But her steely determination to make her way in a cruel world has done its own damage.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a long cruel winter
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Brand was a cruel and intimidating man who abused his children and his wife.
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Children can sometimes be very cruel .
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He didn't seem the sort of man to be cruel on purpose.
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Her parents were very cruel to her when she was young.
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I think it's cruel to keep dogs locked up inside all day.
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It was cruel of you to frighten the poor boy like that.
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Killing animals just for their skins seems cruel .
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Lyle was always playing cruel jokes on his little sister.
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People say showbusiness can be very cruel .
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She married a man who was very cruel to her.
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The electric chair is possibly the cruelest method of execution.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A vindictive, cruel policy of repression also maimed the economy.
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An unknowable, harsh and cruel society had destroyed his father for no apparent reason.
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I knew I was cruel in letting the walks go on as if nothing had changed.
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In the second place, he invented fishnets, a cruel device whereby innocent fish leap weeping to your frying pans.
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It had been a very cruel murder.
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The heavy mouth, the yellow skin, the cruel eyes - these told the real story.
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The mortals seemed miserable and the children cruel and now there was nothing left of the spectacle.