1
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
an affectless analysis of the cost of the war purely in pecuniary terms
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stoic
not feeling or showing emotion
the accused remained affectless throughout the long trial
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of affectless
The use of an A.I. program to replicate Warhol’s flat, affectless speech to read the diary entries had a strangely fitting logic.
—
Steve Dollar, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2022
Skarsgård does well with the character’s daytime ambiguity (tight-faced, affectless) and nighttime plotting (observant, physically lithe).
—Vulture, 27 Apr. 2022
And the key to the mystery — not the solution to it but the dark center of it — is Swinton Byrne’s quiet, reserved, at times almost affectless performance.
—New York Times, 7 Dec. 2021
His paintings borrowed aspects of photographic vision (arbitrary cropping, dissonant overlap) and even photographic sensibility (cool, affectless, mechanical).
—Washington Post, 20 Jan. 2021
See All Example Sentences for affectless
Steve Dollar, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2022
Skarsgård does well with the character’s daytime ambiguity (tight-faced, affectless) and nighttime plotting (observant, physically lithe).
—Vulture, 27 Apr. 2022
And the key to the mystery — not the solution to it but the dark center of it — is Swinton Byrne’s quiet, reserved, at times almost affectless performance.
—New York Times, 7 Dec. 2021
His paintings borrowed aspects of photographic vision (arbitrary cropping, dissonant overlap) and even photographic sensibility (cool, affectless, mechanical).
—Washington Post, 20 Jan. 2021
See All Example Sentences for affectless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for affectless
Adjective
-
The ruthless conglomerate's logo, base, ships, and equipment are featured throughout the film, in addition to the synths themselves.—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Earlier stories in that newspaper described López Torres as a ruthless trafficker who has killed dozens and was earlier aligned with Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary forces, known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or the Spanish acronym AUC.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Hard not to call to mind the heavily creased face of a Native American man (who turned out to be Italian) in that public service ad against littering—hair in braids, a tear running down his stoic cheek.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
-
The shades, stoic facial expressions and ensembles?—
Diana Pearl,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Following the deaths of his brother William (Felix Kammerer) and his sister-in-law Elizabeth (Mia Goth), Victor vows vengeance on the Creature and dedicates the rest of his life to a merciless pursuit of him.—
Yasmeen Hamadeh,
PEOPLE,
7 Nov. 2025
-
The book, which is from Australia, follows Bee and her fellow runaways, who discover a new friend, Paco, is a Lost Boy from Neverland who needs them to fight hordes of pirates led by a merciless new leader.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Needless to say, the sanctions, Trump’s criticism of Putin and the cancelation of in-person talks, elicited a stony silence from Moscow on Thursday.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Madewell Crewneck Cutaway Vest A stony tan vest might just be the sleeper hit of the season.—
Rosie Marder,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
-
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.—
Hussein Agha,
New Yorker,
22 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Affectless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/affectless. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share