coldheartedness

noun

as in heartlessness

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for coldheartedness
  1. heartlessness
  2. callousness
  3. indifference
  4. hard-heartedness
  5. cruelty
Noun
  • These young graduates start out naive about the heartlessness of the corporate world and harbor illusory hopes for success in unforgiving professions.
    — George Packer, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
  • The lives of the two children in the story, aged fourteen and four, are portrayed as being as fleeting as the fireflies, and the story is an unsentimental and unflinching account with moments of both tenderness and heartlessness.
    — Ginny Tapley Takemori September 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Definition of heartlessness
Noun
  • Simon’s self-righteous callousness warranted a rebuke, but the rebuke provided Simon the opportunity to see the situation more clearly, to repent, and to love more going forward.
    — Eric Bashor, Christian Science Monitor, 13 July 2026
  • Before leaders such as Cox and Warnock were on the national stage, Hogan’s pragmatism, steady leadership and independence kept a better version of politics alive even as our public culture raced toward callousness and cruelty.
    — Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 8 July 2026
Definition of callousness
Noun
  • Kaepernick jolted the sports world from a state of indifference.
    — Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Institutional indifference and erasure Fast forward to today, and that defensive posture has hardened into absolute institutional erasure.
    — Kimmie Gordon, Chicago Tribune, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of indifference
Noun
  • Tarr's reputation for films tinged with misery and hard-heartedness, distinguished by black-and-white cinematography and unusually long sequences, only grew throughout the 1990s and 2000s, particularly after his 1994 film Sátántangó.
    — Alina Edwards, NPR, 6 Jan. 2026
Definition of hard-heartedness
Noun
  • Law enforcement sources involved in the case told WJZ that the horse was being cared for by someone who is facing animal cruelty and abandonment charges in an unrelated case in West Virginia.
    — Tara Lynch, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The real problem is the culture, and when culture rewards cruelty, the damage spreads.
    — Jodi Bondi Norgaard, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of cruelty
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.

Browse Nearby Words

coldhearted
coldheartedness
coldish
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Cite this Entry

“Coldheartedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coldheartedness. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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