noun ·see crewel.
2. cruel ·adj attended with cruetly; painful; harsh.
3. cruel ·adj causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery.
4. cruel ·adj disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless.