Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of cruelty.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • All their severities called cruelties: mutually accusing each other; each him and herself; and all to raise her character, and torment themselves.

    Clarissa Harlowe 2006

  • [188] 'I will grant that everything has been done with justice, which cannot be punished without again shedding the blood of citizens;' that is, the cruelties then committed by the optimates in crushing

    C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino 86 BC-34? BC Sallust

  • While heartily approving of such reasonable punishment as shall deter crime, I can command no language strong and severe enough to condemn in fitting terms the cruelties and deviltries heaped upon the Negro in certain sections of the South in the name and for the sake of those who profit by the convict lease system.

    Twentieth Century Negro Literature Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro Daniel Wallace [Editor] Culp

  • Many of my friends said, "Don't do that; if you do that the cruelties will be always more and more atrocious; we are a weak people; we have to undergo the conditions of occupation; if we resist, our lot will be worse; you may not resist in public; let us wait passively with patience and confidence in our God; let us wait the moment of our liberation."

    The German Occupation of Belgium 1919

  • But Meriem could but shudder as she recalled the cruelties of this terrible old hag in the years gone by.

    The Son of Tarzan 1915

  • Meriem could but shudder as she recalled the cruelties of this terrible old hag in the years gone by.

    Son of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912

  • A great deal of fuss was made about them, not only abroad, where all the enemies of England took a particular and most vicious pleasure in magnifying the so-called cruelties which were supposed to take place, but also in the English Press, where long and heartrending accounts appeared concerning the iniquities and injustices practised by the military authorities on the unfortunate Boer families assembled in the Camps.

    Cecil Rhodes Man and Empire-Maker Catherine Radziwill 1899

  • The old folks took particular delight in recalling the cruelties of his youth.

    Brazilian Tales Carmen Dolores 1881

  • Augustus are forgotten the terrible invective of Tacitus and the sarcasm of Juvenal recall the cruelties and the terrors of Tiberius.

    Stray Studies from England and Italy John Richard Greene 1860

  • After that, in the troubles of Stephen's reign, anarchy let loose tyranny in its most fearful form, and things were done which recall the cruelties of the old Spanish _conquistadores_ in America.

    Historical Lectures and Essays Charles Kingsley 1847

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