thankless
adjective
thank·less
ˈthaŋk-ləs 
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
William 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
Like it or not, Washington is going to have embrace the thankless task of stabilizing the Middle East through energetic diplomacy and by projecting power.
—Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024
The newsroom drama—which is streaming on Netflix starting today (April 5)— is based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, by former BBC guest booker Sam McAlister, whose sometimes thankless job led her to the exclusive of a lifetime.
—Armani Syed, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Perhaps Hur, while doing a thankless public service, also offered a generational lament at our gerontocratic government.
—Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024
To be fair, delivering the State of the Union opposition address is a thankless job.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024
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
Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024
The newsroom drama—which is streaming on Netflix starting today (April 5)— is based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, by former BBC guest booker Sam McAlister, whose sometimes thankless job led her to the exclusive of a lifetime.
—Armani Syed, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
Perhaps Hur, while doing a thankless public service, also offered a generational lament at our gerontocratic government.
—Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2024
To be fair, delivering the State of the Union opposition address is a thankless job.
—Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024
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
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.
Dictionary Entries Near thankless
Cite this Entry
“Thankless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thankless. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
thankless
adjective
thank·less
ˈthaŋ-kləs
1
: not appreciated by others
a thankless job
2
: not showing or feeling gratitude
thanklessly
adverb
thanklessness
noun
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