1
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
a heartless boss who would fire people for missing work, even if they were sick as a dog
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cruel
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
his heartless whipping of runaway slaves virtually to the point of death shocked even other slave owners
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of heartless
From Lois and the boys’ discovery of Clark’s limp, heartless corpse to the scream Jordan released when Lex crushed that heart under his boot, there was no shortage of drama.
—
Andy Swift, TVLine, 7 Oct. 2024
Resist this madness before the unhinged, heartless bully and his spellbound thugs shred our Constitution and our future.
—Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025
At least one federal employee that Elon Musk can’t fire has taken an important stand for all the workers who were terminated in Musk’s heartless government purge.
—Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 30 Mar. 2025
Nelis renders the professor a pompous and pedantic twit but not a heartless one.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heartless
Andy Swift, TVLine, 7 Oct. 2024
Resist this madness before the unhinged, heartless bully and his spellbound thugs shred our Constitution and our future.
—Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025
At least one federal employee that Elon Musk can’t fire has taken an important stand for all the workers who were terminated in Musk’s heartless government purge.
—Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 30 Mar. 2025
Nelis renders the professor a pompous and pedantic twit but not a heartless one.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heartless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartless
Adjective
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The way to move up in your organization might require being ruthless.—
Roberta Matuson,
Forbes.com,
9 Apr. 2025
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Russo, who has avoided serious injury and is set to return to play for Arsenal this month, is an out-and-out centre-forward, a grafter who uses her strength to take care of the ball and stitch play, but is also becoming a more ruthless penalty-box striker.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Everybody else has no choice, really, other than to bring a cruel, narcissistic far-right leader to power.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2025
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Jokes that didn’t land with the squad The kids in Bad Influence say the pranks were the most cruel.—
Olivia B. Waxman,
Time,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Lottie proposes that Natalie be stripped of her title and that the merciless and vicious Shauna should lead them instead.—
Erin Qualey,
Vulture,
14 Mar. 2025
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The animal is fully present, merciless and hungry.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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But graduating in 2009 meant stepping into a brutal job market during the Great Recession.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2025
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Andrews adds musical interludes, which don’t always work, and brutal jokes, which do.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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This was a vicious weaponization of your government.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Apr. 2025
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Employees losing jobs because companies will lay off workers to off-set the expense of tariffs will also mean fewer customers buying goods and services, creating a vicious cycle that depresses both corporate revenues and economic growth.—
Solange Charas,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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As savage Arctic cold was getting ready to surge south across North America, vivid imagery based on data from weather models showed us what was going to happen.—
Tom Yulsman,
Discover Magazine,
27 Dec. 2022
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The 2023 grand marshal is former Arizona Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, gravely wounded in a savage mass shooting in 2011 that also killed six people.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Dec. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Heartless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartless. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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