thankless

play

adjective thank·less \ ˈthaŋk-ləs \

Definition of thankless

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 child
—William Shakespeare

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thanklessly

adverb

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thanklessness

noun

See thankless defined for English-language learners

See thankless defined for kids

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 of thankless from the Web

A Hollywood native daughter who brings a measure of grit and grace, Dern may be just the one to take on a thankless, unpaid job that involves ticking people off all over town, and taking the heat publicly for every unpopular Academy decision.

— rebecca keegan, HWD, "How Laura Dern Could Win Her Historic Bid for the Motion Picture Academy Presidency," 7 Aug. 2017
Six years ago, a humble party hack from Kenosha, Wisconsin, took on the thankless job of turning around the Republican Party.

— molly ball, The Atlantic, "The Final Humiliation of Reince Priebus," 30 July 2017
A career politician to end all career politicians, stuck in an impossible and thankless job, criticized by both the Left and the Right, harboring forever an unachievable dream, destined to leave politics with that dream entirely unfulfilled.

— max bloom, National Review, "The End of the Grand Bargain," 17 July 2017
As Sam gets to know the ropes of the Citadel, part of his thankless job is to work at the library, which offers viewers a chance to get a good look at the grandest library in the Thrones universe.

— lily rothman, Time, "Game of Thrones Made It Abundantly Clear Why Real Medieval Libraries Chained Their Books," 17 July 2017
By some accounts, the job appears to be a thankless one at a company whose reputation is in the toilet.

— mike isaac, The Seattle Times, "Uber offers a thankless job, and the applicants flood In," 16 July 2017
By some accounts, the job appears to be a thankless one at a company whose reputation is in the toilet.

— mike isaac, The Seattle Times, "Uber offers a thankless job, and the applicants flood In," 16 July 2017
By some accounts, the job appears to be a thankless one at a company whose reputation is in the toilet.

— mike isaac, New York Times, "Uber Offers a Thankless Job, and the Applications Flood In," 13 July 2017
Sypha is a sorceress in the thankless role of the Diane Chambers to Trevor’s Sam Malone.

— joshua rivera, GQ, "Netflix's Castlevania, Reviewed: Yet Another Botched Video Game Adaptation," 10 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'thankless.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.