how to pronounce cruel

/ˈkɹuəl/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of cruel is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

cruel is pronounced in two syllables

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1.

2. example pitch curve for pronunciation of cruel

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video examples of cruel pronunciation

An example use of cruel in a speech by a native speaker of american english:

“… to natural causes by cruel fate of …”

meanings of cruel

adjective:

Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.
Harsh; severe.
Cool; awesome; neat.

verb:

To violently provoke (a child) in the belief that this will make them more assertive.
To spoil or ruin (one's chance of success).

adverb:

To a great degree; terribly.

noun:

Alternative form of crewel.

cruel frequency in english - C1 level of CEFR

the word cruel occurs in english on average 13.7 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for C1 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics cruel can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that cruel can be often used in the following areas:

1) people, society, and culture;