Englishfor English speakers
cruel
Adjective
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Someone who is cruel is mean. They hurt other people and don't care, or they like hurting other people.
The cruel guard pushed the prisoners so hard that some of them fell down.
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An action is cruel if only cruel people would do it.
It's cruel to make children work 10 hours a day.
punishment
Noun
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A punishment is a response to bad actions; it is used to try to stop another bad action.
Punishment is hard to accept.
His punishments were financial and verbal.