"cruel action" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you are referring to an action that is thought of as unnecessarily unkind or harsh. Example sentence: He took a cruel action in denying her a promotion.
"This is a cruel action," Colonel Ghazan said.
"We strongly condemn this cruel action by our enemies and we have started our investigation into the incident," Mr. Omar said.
Scottish Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse said he was "disgusted and angry" by what appeared to be a "deliberate, illegal and cruel action against a protected species".
The child who could not speak seemed to be more vulnerable since he/she could not mention a person who was responsible for the cruel action when parents wanted to know.
It is a very serious offence and the lives of five men have been severely affected by Horne's selfish and quite frankly, cruel, actions.
I ignored his cruel actions, shuddering – but doing nothing – as he sabotaged one PhD student's field research and another's involvement in international policy.
"The entire responsibility for the conflict, for the cruel actions committed, rests upon the shoulders of the Georgian leadership," Mr. Medvedev said.
"The people are tired of all these cruel actions by the foreigners, and we can't suffer it anymore," said Naqibullah Samim, a village elder from Hodkail, where Mr. Yonus lived.
Marvez cites that a source says the Dolphins were aware that "the cruel actions of some teammates toward Martin went well beyond the customary hazing sometimes given to NFL rookies and youngsters". Coach Joe Philbin declined to comment beyond reading a statement after the game.
And later Hobbes suggests that because "drunkenness and cruelty" cannot sincerely be thought to contribute to self-preservation, drunken and cruel actions are not performed by right, even in the state of nature (ibid., 3.27).
Under Sessions, one of the Justice Department's first, egregiously cruel actions was to roll back protections allowing transgender students to use school bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
