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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
Inhumane or Cruel?
Hello
Does anyone can explain me what are the differences between "inhumane" and "cruel"? Where can you use these two words? Could you give me some examples where you can't exchange these two adjectives?
Does anyone can explain me what are the differences between "inhumane" and "cruel"? Where can you use these two words? Could you give me some examples where you can't exchange these two adjectives?
Top answer
The first thing that springs to mind is that inhumane applies only to human beings, whereas cruel can apply to animals, in a literary way to cold weather, etc. ex. The tiger's cruel bite ripped open the neck of the gazelle.
- The first thing that springs to mind is that inhumane applies only to human beings, whereas cruel can apply to animals, in a literary way to cold weather, etc.
- ex.
- The tiger's cruel bite ripped open the neck of the gazelle.
- ) But, you could not correctly say: The tiger's inhumane bite ripped open the neck of the gazelle.
- Even with humans, I think the argument could be made that cruel is stronger.
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1 Answers
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The first thing that springs to mind is that inhumane applies only to human beings, whereas cruel can apply to animals, in a literary way to cold weather, etc.
ex.
The tiger's cruel bite ripped open the neck of the gazelle.
(Now, one can argue whether or not an animal's primal instincts are technically cruel, but that is a philosophical argument, not a grammatical one.)
ex.
The tiger's cruel bite ripped open the neck of the gazelle.
(Now, one can argue whether or not an animal's primal instincts are technically cruel, but that is a philosophical argument, not a grammatical one.)
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