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
  • Rather, the crisis of the Lincoln has illuminated a pattern of callousness and cruelty toward military personnel, people who have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
    — Andrea N. Goldstein, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of callousness
Noun
  • The reason most teams stop there is not indifference as much as compromise.
    — Patrick Iversen, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Activists fused mourning and militance, fighting against indifference to the lives of gay men and, later, people of color and intravenous drug users.
    — Robert W. Snyder, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 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
  • The doc is similarly unflinching in showing the horrific scene from 1900 in which Donald Sutherland’s sadistic fascist murders a young boy in a shockingly callous way, while Laura Betti as his equal in cruelty dissolves into blood-curdling cackles.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Shooting a wild animal with a pellet gun and causing needless suffering is also within the scope of a felony animal cruelty charge.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 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.

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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 13 Sep. 2026.

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