as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
having lived through the horrors of war, the soldiers had seemingly become desensitized to virtually all human suffering
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desensitized
Adjective
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Those hoping to snatch a home in this busy period faced limited options on the market, as the country’s developers had chronically underbuilt compared to demand in the years following the subprime mortgage crisis, leading to ruthless bidding wars and climbing home values.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025 -
Hedda orchestrates a ruthless game of manipulation, where lust, jealousy and betrayal collide.—
Patrick Hipes,
Deadline,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Just clean, merciless, fundamental football.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
19 Oct. 2025
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Chat members were merciless in their rhetoric against fellow Young Republicans in competing factions of the organization.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
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Critics claimed the clip was insensitive and appeared to have been filmed near the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, where Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, died at age 36 in 1997.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
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The case centered on allegations that O’Brien had bullied colleagues and made racially insensitive remarks.—
State House News Service,
Boston Herald,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Tens of thousands of callous-handed firefighters and tender veterinarians each year are snubbed in favor of bankable Hollywood stars that, coincidentally, tend to bring attention to suffering magazines.—
Choire Sicha,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
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President Biden singularly stands out in his callous enabling of the horrors inflicted on Gaza for more than a year.—
Shibley Telhami,
Time,
13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Developed by scientists at TU Delft, the algorithm can help perform tasks at hard-to-reach infrastructure, like offshore wind turbines.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
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Creatures crawling out of gunk, their legs extending, their toe-webs rescinding, amoebic eyes getting harder.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Desensitized.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desensitized. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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