Word.ws English Dictionary

is cruel to be kind

is cruel to be kind is the third-person singular simple present indicative of be cruel to be kind.

Meaning of be cruel to be kind

Verb

be cruel to be kind (third-person singular simple present is cruel to be kind, present participle being cruel to be kind, simple past was cruel to be kind, past participle been cruel to be kind)

  1. (idiomatic) To act cruelly in order to achieve a positive outcome in the future.
    • I muſt be cruell only to be kinde, / This bad beginnes, and worſe remaines behind.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...

Questions about is cruel to be kind

What is is cruel to be kind the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Is cruel to be kind is the third-person singular simple present indicative of be cruel to be kind.

Words near is cruel to be kind in the dictionary

  1. is at the plague
  2. is awake
  3. is bored
  4. is born
  5. is born yesterday
  6. is cruel to be kind
  7. is done with
  8. is down with
  9. is gathered to one's fathers
  10. is good for
  11. is in each other's pockets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: is cruel to be kind (page history and authors); be cruel to be kind (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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