Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cruel \Cru"el\ (kr[udd]"[e^]l), a. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis,
   fr. crudus. See {Crude}.]
   1. 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.

            Behold a people cometh from the north country; . . .
            they are cruel and have no mercy.     --Jer. vi.
                                                  22,23.

   2. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain, grief, or misery.

            Cruel wars, wasting the earth.        --Milton.

            Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their
            wrath for it was cruel.               --Gen. xlix.
                                                  7.

   3. Attended with cruetly; painful; harsh.

            You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength.
                                                  --Shak.

Cruel \Cru"el\ (kr[udd]"[e^]l), n.
   See {Crewel}.

Source : WordNet®

cruel
     adj 1: lacking or showing kindness or compassion or mercy [syn: {unkind}]
     2: (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict
        pain or suffering; "a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings";
        "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the
        kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks" [syn: {barbarous},
         {brutal}, {fell}, {roughshod}, {savage}, {vicious}]
     3: (of weapons or instruments) causing suffering and pain;
        "brutal instruments of torture"; "cruel weapons of war"
        [syn: {brutal}]
     4: used of circumstances (especially weather) that cause
        suffering; "brutal weather"; "northern winters can be
        cruel"; "a cruel world"; "a harsh climate"; "a rigorous
        climate"; "unkind winters" [syn: {brutal}, {harsh}, {rigorous},
         {unkind}]