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. Punishingly harsh
   "a brutal winter"; "the brutal summer sun";
   - 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: direct, inhumane, intense

Encyclopedia: Brutal