as in ruthless
not guided by or showing a concern for what is right
cutthroat business practices intended to drive competitors out of business
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in assassin
a person who kills another person
while traveling the ancient Silk Road, traders were constant prey to cutthroats and thieves
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cutthroat
Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026
Their annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 6 Apr. 2026
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 9 Mar. 2026
These sorts of good-paying, white-collar jobs are becoming harder to get — and to keep — thanks to AI and other belt-tightening effects, even without the fallout from cutthroat wheeling and dealing.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cutthroat
Adjective
The Sharks desperately needed to beat the Blackhawks on Monday at SAP Center to keep pace in a cutthroat race for the second Western Conference wild card.
—Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026
Their annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 6 Apr. 2026
Noun
Starring Dayo Wong and Sammi Cheng, the story follows a stubborn manager and his cutthroat ex-wife who must join forces to save the business from a hostile corporate takeover.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 9 Mar. 2026
These sorts of good-paying, white-collar jobs are becoming harder to get — and to keep — thanks to AI and other belt-tightening effects, even without the fallout from cutthroat wheeling and dealing.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cutthroat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cutthroat
Adjective
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Not many years ago, a ruthless man with an uneasy mind took power in his country and created a cult of personality.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
-
The sequel picks up as Tyler Rake, back from the brink of death, gets hired to rescue a ruthless gangster’s family from prison.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Their efforts lead them in the season’s last two episodes to Paris, where Frank was planning to celebrate his 80th birthday with his children — only for him to be gunned down in a hotel lobby by an assassin who had been sent to kill Teddy for a deal gone wrong.—
Max Gao,
Variety,
11 Apr. 2026
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Neither of these two is necessarily a lip-sync assassin.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
11 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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To do so is to be tacitly complicit in what these companies know to be wrong, unethical and immoral.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
7 Apr. 2026
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Lawyers for the church argue that Morris’ agreements with the church preclude him from those benefits if he was fired or resigned because of immoral behavior.—
Lillie Davidson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The murderer, on a road trip from Iowa, had been stranded in Wayne County after hitting an elk and totaling his truck.—
Stephen Trimble,
Denver Post,
8 Apr. 2026
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But what starts as a hunt for a murderer escalates into an undercover operation to foil a Far-Right bomb plot in the heart of London.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Transparency International ranks both governments among the most corrupt in the world.—
The Week UK,
TheWeek,
12 Apr. 2026
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Corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked Hungary the most corrupt country in the EU.—
Christian Edwards,
CNN Money,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
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As the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer admitted to the torture and murders of eight women throughout Long Island, New York, this week, Rex Heuermann also made an unlikely decision that could help investigators gain insight into his nearly two decades of violence.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2026
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Rex Heuermann, the man known as the Gilgo Beach killer, admitted to killing eight women over a span of decades, and the FBI is now looking into what motivated the 62-year-old to carry out his crimes to help capture other criminals in the future.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Police at this point believe neither of these new notes are authentic, just an attempt by unscrupulous people to take advantage of the situation.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
9 Apr. 2026
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The Tribune reports on how the legal system is failing people who have been wrongly accused of crimes and how some unscrupulous attorneys have turned the system into a gravy train for themselves.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Practically all the public’s attention has been on the president and his oddball or vengeful or unprincipled actions.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Apr. 2026
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How pathetically far this blithering, unprincipled piece of trash has gone to endanger other lives, to expressly distract and deflect from his own wicked deeds, and to further benefit his grifting family’s larcenously enlarged bounties.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
8 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cutthroat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cutthroat. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.
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