A crowd is a large number of people watching an event.
audience
The concert audience clapped when the conductor took the stage.
gate
Fifty thousand were there – the biggest gate that United had had all season.
spectators
In the past, the spectators cheered as people were publicly executed.
cruel ADJECTIVE
Cruel people deliberately cause pain or distress to other people or to animals.
callous
The callous emperor made his slaves work their fingers to the bone.
hard-hearted
Hard-hearted Scrooge begrudged giving Cratchit a day off at Christmas.
heartless
The heartless landlord threw the poor widow into the street.
merciless
The merciless sniper picked off his victims one by one with precision.
ruthless
Anyone who disagreed with the ruthless dictator disappeared.
vicious
The vicious crocodile clamped its jaws on the unfortunate swimmer.
crumble VERB
When something crumbles, or you crumble it, it breaks into small pieces.
collapse
Weak foundations caused the apartment block to collapse.
decay
The beam had decayed, bringing the floor above it crashing down.
decompose
Plants, animals and humans begin to decompose when they die.
disintegrate
The agent disintegrated as Morpheus fired his phaser weapon.
cry (1) VERB
When you cry, tears come from your eyes because you are unhappy or hurt.
WORD POWER: This word tends to be used a lot. To make your writing more varied, try to use some of the alternative words suggested here instead.
bawl
The moment the baby’s bottle was put in its mouth it stopped bawling.
blubber
After being refused an ice cream, the toddler blubbered for the next half hour.
shed tears
Dad’s advice is not to shed tears over something that is in the past.
snivel
“Stop snivelling and you might get a lolly,” the girl’s mother snapped.
sob
Milly sobbed her heart out to think that her dog was dead.
weep
After her sisters had left for the ball, Cinderella wept silently as she swept.
cry (2) VERB
If you cry something, you shout it or say it loudly.
WORD POWER: This word tends to be used a lot. To make your writing more varied, try to use some of the alternative words suggested here instead.
bawl