cruel

Compared meaning: extremely cruel and without mercy (adjective).

比较义项：极其残忍、无情（形容词）。

• brutal

  Brutal stresses extreme physical violence or savage force, describing attacks, regimes, or killings; it is too strong for a merely unkind remark.

  brutal强调极端的暴力和野蛮的力量，用来形容袭击、政权或杀戮；用在一句不友善的话上则显得太重。

  The soldiers launched a brutal attack, killing villagers without any mercy.

  士兵发动了一次残暴的袭击，毫不留情地杀害了村民。

• cruel 本词

  Cruel is the general, everyday word for deliberately causing pain or suffering, physical or emotional, and can describe either an action or a person's character.

  cruel是最常用、最普通的词，指故意让人（或动物）遭受身体或精神上的痛苦，既可以形容一个行为，也可以形容一个人的性格。

  She made a cruel joke about his stutter, just to embarrass him.

  她拿他口吃的毛病开了一个残忍的玩笑，就是为了让他难堪。

• inhuman

  Inhuman is the strongest and most formal, implying a total lack of human decency; it usually describes conditions, treatment, or systems rather than one unkind remark.

  inhuman语气最强也最正式，指完全丧失人性；通常用来形容恶劣的环境、待遇或制度，而不是一句不友善的话。

  Prisoners were kept in inhuman conditions, with no food or clean water.

  囚犯们被关在毫无人道的环境中，没有食物也没有干净的水。

Brutal, cruel, and inhuman all mean extremely cruel, but differ in strength. Brutal stresses violence, as in attacks. Cruel is the common word, meaning deliberately causing pain. Inhuman is the strongest, meaning a total lack of kindness. This excludes brutal describing harsh weather or schedules.

这三个词在“极其残忍”这一义项上意思相近，但语气和用法各不相同：brutal强调暴力和粗暴的力量，常用于攻击、政权、谋杀等；cruel是最常用、最通用的词，指故意让人（或动物）痛苦，可用于行为也可用于言语；inhuman语气最强也最正式，强调完全丧失人性、把人当作非人对待，常用于形容恶劣的环境或制度。另外，brutal还有“（天气、日程等）十分严酷、令人难以忍受”的用法（如brutal winds），这里不作比较。