Definition of affectlessnext
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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 But Kardashian’s performance, stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, is exactly what the writing, also stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, merits. — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025 Avoiding romance and melodrama, deBoer writes in an affectless register that mirrors Alice’s dissociation. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025 The clip is entirely affectless—an authentic moment of pure lyricism. — John Seabrook, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2022 Skarsgård does well with the character’s daytime ambiguity (tight-faced, affectless) and nighttime plotting (observant, physically lithe). — Vulture, 27 Apr. 2022 See All Example Sentences for affectless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for affectless
Adjective
  • Today, it is widely known that coal miners of the 19th and early 20th centuries experienced ruthless exploitation and hazardous working conditions.
    — Marcus Librizzi, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Involuntary bumping is more ruthless, denying boarding to passengers in a joyless game of musical plane seats.
    — Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • John McKinney, 58, who leapfrogged to a second-place finish in the primaries amid a stoic, law-and-order campaign that sometimes slipped into Spencer Pratt-style dystopian imagery.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Filson Rugged Twill Original Briefcase Not everyone wants to resemble Don Draper at the office—some men prefer the stoic, rugged vibe.
    — Genevieve Cepeda, InStyle, 21 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • It would be seen as a work of merciless autofiction in the vein of Karl Ove Knausgaard, and it would be discussed, as his books are, as aggressive, antisocial, and spiteful.
    — B. D. McClay, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • In the story, Ria teams up with her foster mother and their fellow punks to resist a merciless developer intent on tearing down their building.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 19 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.
    — Emily Cox, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026
  • Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.
    — Natasha Bazika, Martha Stewart, 9 May 2026
Adjective
  • About two months after his testimony, Pujo’s report mapped out in pitiless detail all the interrelationships between Morgan and his small network of industrialists.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Nilsson’s depiction of bodies past their prime conjures not the pitiless naturalism of Joan Semmel or Alice Neel, but something friskier, more delighted.
    — Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Affectless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/affectless. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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