thankless

adjective

thank·​less ˈthaŋk-ləs How to pronounce thankless (audio)
1
: not likely to obtain thanks : unappreciated
a thankless task
2
: not expressing or feeling gratitude : ungrateful
how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless childWilliam Shakespeare
thanklessly adverb
thanklessness noun

Examples of thankless in a Sentence

a thankless boss who seems oblivious to the extra effort his subordinates have made the thankless job of cleaning up after a party
Recent Examples on the Web So some agents are handing that thankless task to machines. Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024 Officers have a thankless, dangerous job: On more than one occasion they have been targeted by assassins. Jesse Barron, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2024 Even the late Steve Jobs—the genius and notoriously thankless manager who co-founded Apple—in Gates’ opinion, did the same. Jane Thier, Fortune, 9 Dec. 2023 Spending time poring over manuscripts to offer thoughtful and incisive critique as a peer reviewer is one of academia’s most thankless jobs. IEEE Spectrum, 6 Feb. 2024 Notably, hosting award shows has become one of the more thankless tasks in showbiz, so much so that the Globes – which admittedly suffered from its own spotty history and past scandals – essentially had to settle for Koy after other comedians declined the gig. Brian Lowry, CNN, 5 Feb. 2024 Tranter is also working hard to ingratiate themself to the Academy, including the thankless task of hosting the Grammys pre-show. Vulture, 1 Feb. 2024 The consensus theory in the comedy community is that this is a thankless job, and the odds of failure are so high. Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 30 Jan. 2024 While tending to these commotions, Sabu was grinding through thankless film roles and stints on television, strenuously trying to recoup the glory of his past. Hazlitt, 29 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thankless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of thankless was in the 15th century

Cite this Entry

“Thankless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thankless. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

thankless

adjective
thank·​less ˈthaŋ-kləs How to pronounce thankless (audio)
1
: not appreciated by others
a thankless job
2
: not showing or feeling gratitude
thanklessly adverb
thanklessness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on thankless

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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