grausam

Grausam is a German adjective meaning cruel, brutal, or harsh, used to describe actions, people, or situations that cause suffering, pain, or moral outrage. In English, it is commonly translated as cruel or atrocious. The term also appears in compounds and set phrases such as “grausame Tat” (cruel act) or “grausame Lebensbedingungen” (cruel living conditions).

Usage and inflection: It can be used attributively or predicatively: “eine grausame Tat,” “das ist grausam.” It inflects for gender, case, and article: “der grausame Mann,” “die grausame Tat,” “das grausame Beispiel”; indefinite articles yield “ein grausamer Mann,” “eine grausame Tat,” etc. The adjective conveys moral condemnation and is common in journalism, literary prose, and everyday language when describing wrongdoing, suffering, or harsh treatment.

Etymology and related terms: The word is of Germanic origin and is related to other Germanic-language terms that express horror or fear. Cognates include Dutch gruwelijk and the English gruesome, reflecting a shared sense of horror across languages. The associated noun Grausamkeit means cruelty or brutality.

See also: Cruelty; Brutality; Gruesome; Inhumanity; Moral condemnation.