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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Hunted by the ruthless crime boss that Don worked for and learned all the boss’s sinister secrets — Perlman plays him — Don has a reason to seek redemption.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025 -
Witness Alex Hales’ ruthless removal.—
Tim Ellis,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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In 1918, Bolshevik secret police forced Anastasia Romanov and her imperial family into a damp basement to face a merciless firing squad.—
Ashlee Conour,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Sep. 2025
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The lengthy, merciless caption is basically the rock equivalent of Miranda Priestly’s cerulean sweater takedown.—
Angie Martoccio,
Rolling Stone,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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If these structural concerns are not remedied at the federal level, then the president’s comments expressing grave concern about violence in Chicago will continue to feel dangerous, insensitive and deeply disingenuous.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Sep. 2025
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The star’s reaction to the children’s film was condemned as insensitive and said to be rooted in homophobia.—
Mikelle Street,
Them.,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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One of the most important goals is creating a society where everyone can have the ability to succeed through education, hard work, and entrepreneurship.—
Kristen Edgreen Kaufman,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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Developed by AeroVironment, the 20kW LOCUST Laser Weapon System (LWS) identifies, tracks, and engages a wide variety of targets with hard-kill high energy laser.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Tennant costars in The Thursday Murder Club as Ian Ventham, the callous, money-hungry co-owner of Coopers Chase.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
28 Aug. 2025
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The New Yorker’s Talk writer was similarly blinkered and callous, treating Grey like a consenting partner and Chaplin as a dual victim, of his mother-in-law’s venality and of Middle America’s moral prejudices.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Desensitized.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desensitized. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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