as in ruthlessly
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Recent Examples of cruelly
Baseball is a cruelly and wonderfully unpredictable game.
—
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Sep. 2025
Ultimately, the court found that prosecutors had not met the burden of proof to show the animals were being neglected or cruelly mistreated.
—Hannah Dreyfus, AZCentral.com, 17 Sep. 2025
Not long ago, such an idea would have seemed dystopian; now, that’s just the everyday gig economy whittled down to its most cruelly efficient form.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2025
These are their memories of a player taken cruelly at the age of only 28.
—Oliver Kay, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cruelly
Adverb
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Before that, Abbie is being ruthlessly scrutinized and controlled by her parents, while Leila’s mother has mostly checked out after her elder daughter’s sudden death.—
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All four victims had been ruthlessly stabbed to death before the attacker vanished through the kitchen’s sliding glass door and into the night.—
Adverb
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Comedians mercilessly mocked their audiences, and audiences liked to punch back.—
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Even for someone used to covering for her daughter’s wrongdoings, Tracey is remarkably self-possessed as Laura pries mercilessly into her life and accuses Cherry of every crime under the sun.—
Adverb
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In the process, Joel heartlessly killed some innocent people, including medical professionals.—
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There is a troubling suggestion of abuse, implying that Jack might have been ill-treated by his mom (and saved by Helen), rather than heartlessly abandoned.—
Adverb
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The director plays up the humor a lot more than Westlake’s callously cynical prose, for better or worse.—
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But after the Sriracha-maker callously withheld payments from Underwood, the relationship deteriorated and litigation followed.—
Adverb
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Joe Garcia spoke bitterly about the decline of governance on both sides of the Straits of Florida.—
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At the start of the season, the Braves lost seven in a row, setting the tone for a bitterly disappointing campaign.—
Adverb
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Aimee Lou Wood, the British breakout star of The White Lotus season three, said Saturday Night Live has apologized after unkindly parodying her during Saturday night’s show.—
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She was always being driven mad by Kubrick, very unkindly.—
Cite this Entry
“Cruelly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cruelly. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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