cruel
adj.adj. causing pain or suffering to others on purpose. You use this to describe someone who is mean or a situation that feels very unfair.
adj. wilfully causing pain or distress to others, or enjoying their suffering; devoid of humane feelings.
It is cruel to keep a large dog in a tiny apartment.
The king was known for his cruel laws that punished even the smallest mistakes with heavy fines.
The harsh winter proved to be a cruel blow to the farmers, who had already lost half of their livestock to disease earlier that year.
From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.
Commonly followed by the preposition 'to' when describing behavior toward a person or animal.