(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; a barbarous crime; brutal beatings; cruel tortures; Stalins roughshod treatment of the kulaks; a savage slap; vicious kicks

[ Syn: barbarous , cruel , fell , roughshod , savage , vicious ]

harsh; the brutal summer sun; a brutal winter

[ Syn: unrelenting ]

resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility; beastly desires; a bestial nature; brute force; a dull and brutish man; bestial treatment of prisoners

[ Syn: beastly , bestial , brute , brutish ]

disagreeably direct and precise; he spoke with brutal honesty'