cruel

lacking or showing kindness or compassion or mercy

(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering

• “a barbarous crime”
• “brutal beatings”
• “cruel tortures”
• “Stalin”
• “;”
• “;”

(of weapons or instruments) causing suffering and pain

• “brutal instruments of torture”
• “cruel weapons of war”

used of circumstances (especially weather) that cause suffering

• “brutal weather”
• “northern winters can be cruel”
• “a cruel world”
• “a harsh climate”
• “a rigorous climate”
• “unkind winters”