as in ruthless
not guided by or showing a concern for what is right
cutthroat business practices intended to drive competitors out of business
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in assassin
a person who kills another person
while traveling the ancient Silk Road, traders were constant prey to cutthroats and thieves
Synonyms & Similar Words
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cutthroat
Monica Gomez, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Having owner Mark Iacono’s number. 21. K-12 SCHOOL With a mass of Hollywood celebs raising families in Brooklyn, competition for exclusive private schools has become cutthroat — nowhere more than at the nepo-baby magnet that is Saint Ann’s, the Harvard-Westlake of the East (for pre-K and up).
—Mark Ellwood, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Sep. 2024
Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 26 Oct. 2024
Conclave, director Edward Berger’s gripping drama about the cutthroat cardinals electing a new pope, is a largely faithful adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel of the same name.
—Eric Andersson, People.com, 26 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cutthroat 
Adjective
There’s value in marketing strategies like social media and influencer partnerships, but in 2024, the marketing landscape is cutthroat.
—Monica Gomez, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
Having owner Mark Iacono’s number. 21. K-12 SCHOOL With a mass of Hollywood celebs raising families in Brooklyn, competition for exclusive private schools has become cutthroat — nowhere more than at the nepo-baby magnet that is Saint Ann’s, the Harvard-Westlake of the East (for pre-K and up).
—Mark Ellwood, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Sep. 2024
Noun
Make no mistake: In a cutthroat league, such purpose can strike a chord.
—Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 26 Oct. 2024
Conclave, director Edward Berger’s gripping drama about the cutthroat cardinals electing a new pope, is a largely faithful adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel of the same name.
—Eric Andersson, People.com, 26 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cutthroat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cutthroat
Adjective
-
Peyser covered the high-profile trial for the Post as a columnist, spending every day in court in order to produce a series of ruthless front-page takes about the Stewart scandal.David Mack, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2024
-
The standoff between Blanche’s impractical aestheticism and Stanley’s ruthless pragmatism is the heart of this quintessentially American drama.Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Harris' lead is driven by older women voters and women independents. Nov. 3: Trump escalates violent rhetoric, suggesting at a Pennsylvania rally that an assassin would have to shoot through the news media to hit him.Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY, 5 Nov. 2024
-
And during this year’s election, the FBI foiled a plot by Iran to pay an assassin $1 million to kill Donald Trump.Brian Bennett, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
McKissic writes that evangelical leaders' acceptance of Trump despite his alleged immoral conduct is hypocritical, contrasting it with their past condemnation of former President Bill Clinton's indiscretions.David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2024
-
On the left, political scientists have long condemned militarized border controls as immoral, likening them to feudal controls on movement based on birthright.Alex Rivera, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
More to Read For Subscribers A child’s murderer could be freed.Jeffrey Collins, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2024
-
Movie gods, hear our prayer: may cinematic murderers never remember to shut their blinds, amen.Tanya Melendez, EW.com, 2 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
Zoe Saldaña as Rita, a jaded defense attorney for white-collar criminals, is writing her closing argument, asking the jury to exonerate her client, a corrupt bureaucrat accused of pushing his wife off a balcony.Paula Aceves, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2024
-
In their telling, the fraud blamed on Dorje Chang was, in fact, pulled off by one of his corrupt former disciples.Joseph Bien-Kahn, Rolling Stone, 3 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
These heavy duty packing cubes come in at a killer price ($15 for the 5-liter and $20 for the 10-liter) and definitely delivered in terms of packability and durability.Joe Jackson, Outside Online, 14 Nov. 2024
-
The jokes just aren’t funny enough — though there is one killer line about Shehzada, which was one of Aaryan’s major flops — and the scares aren’t terrifying enough.Anupama Chopra, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
The Electoral College has not worked as Dickinson hoped, to protect the people from unscrupulous politicians.Jane E. Calvert / Made by History, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
-
Understand that sometimes, unscrupulous companies don't follow the rules.Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 18 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
And if an unprincipled president began his tenure by firing senior military officers for partisan political reasons, the military would lose trust in the executive branch and tensions would grow between the two sides.Peter D. Feaver, Foreign Affairs, 13 Sep. 2024
-
Cazale excelled, instead, at playing people who are weak, weird, unprincipled, and visibly uncomfortable in their own skins.Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near cutthroat
Cite this Entry
“Cutthroat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cutthroat. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share