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If someone can be ruthless, can one also be ruthful?
Ruthless can be defined as "without ruth" or "having no ruth." So what, then, is ruth? The noun ruth, which is now considerably less common than ruthless, means "compassion for the misery of another," "sorrow for one's own faults," or "remorse." And, just as it is possible for one to be without ruth, it is also possible to be full of ruth. The antonym of ruthless is ruthful, meaning "full of ruth" or "tender." Ruthful can also mean "full of sorrow" or "causing sorrow." Ruth can be traced back to the Middle English noun ruthe, itself from ruen, meaning "to rue" or "to feel regret, remorse, or sorrow."
Synonyms of ruthless
Examples of ruthless in a Sentence
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026
To execute its ruthless 66-pound weight loss program, the rear seats have been completely deleted, replaced by a massive structural strut brace that significantly stiffens the chassis.
—Peter Lyon, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026
As a ruthless hitman (Javier Bardem) tries to track him down, the local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to make sense of it all and faces an existential crisis about the senseless violence of the world today.
—Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026
Farrell first stepped into the role in 2022 in The Batman, and again in the film's 2024 spinoff miniseries, The Penguin, focused on his ruthless character as the protagonist.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 12 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Ruthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruthless. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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