cruel

• "a barbarous crime"
• "brutal beatings"
• "cruel tortures"
• "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks"
• "a savage slap"
• "vicious kicks"

Synonyms

• barbarous(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; primitive in customs and culture
• brutal(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; punishingly harsh; resembling a beast; disagreeably direct and precise
• fell(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; the dressed skin of an animal (especially a large animal) ; seam made by turning under or folding together and stitching the seamed materials to avoid rough edges ; the act of felling something (as a tree) ; cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow; pass away rapidly; sew a seam by folding the edges
• roughshod(of a horse) having horseshoes with projecting nails to prevent slipping ; (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; unjustly domineering
• savagea member of an uncivilized people ; a cruelly rapacious person ; attack brutally and fiercely ; criticize harshly or violently; (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; wild and menacing; without civilizing influences; marked by extreme and violent energy
• vicious(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; having the nature of vice ; bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure; marked by deep ill will