The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - harsh adj.

1) rough, coarse, bristly, scratchy, hairy, crude; hoarse, grating, raucous, rasping, husky, guttural; clashing, inharmonious or unharmonious, discordant, atonal, dissonant, cacophonous, strident, shrill, grinding, sour; bitter, sour, acrid: He found harsh the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of the Casbah. 2) stern, austere, bleak, dour, unkind, unfeeling, comfortless, uncompassionate, unfriendly, grim, hard, Spartan, stringent, over-exacting, Draconian, tyrannical, stark, severe, cruel, abusive, punishing, punitive, brutal, brutish, inhuman, merciless, ruthless, pitiless: Simon is a very harsh taskmaster. 3) unpleasant, disagreeable, impolite, discourteous, uncivil, rude, nasty, curt, abrupt, brusque, bluff, gruff, curmudgeonly, choleric, splenetic, surly, sullen, irascible, short-tempered, petulant, peevish, waspish, grouchy, bilious, cross, acrimonious, sarcastic, acerbic: Why is Maria so harsh to Alan?