WordWeb Online

1. (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
   "brutal beatings"
   - barbarous, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious
    
2. Harsh
   "the brutal summer sun"; "a brutal winter"
   - unrelenting
    
3. Resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility
   "brutal desires"
   - beastly, bestial, brute, brutish
    
4. Disagreeably direct and precise
   "he spoke with brutal honesty"

See also: brutality, brutalize, direct, inhumane, intense

Encyclopedia: Brutal