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hard-heartedness

noun

as in heartlessness

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of hard-heartedness 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-heartedness
  1. heartlessness
  2. callousness
  3. coldness
  4. obduracy
  5. insensitivity
  6. hardness
  7. apathy
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
  • Vicki brushes it off, and even Shannon can’t defend her friend’s callousness.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Swift was born into the Anglo-Irish Protestant elite, and the text satires both the callousness of his class and a then-ascendant approach to morality and politics that held that all aspects of life could be cooked down to a pure numerical value.
    — Dónal Gill, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of callousness
Noun
  • The danger occurs if that ruthlessness veers into institutional coldness.
    — James McNicholas, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The music recalled the angst and coldness of Carpenter’s movie scores but with more robust arrangements, buttressed by Davies’ guitar.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of coldness
Noun
  • Perhaps the greatest testament to Morocco’s obduracy came late in normal time, when Rodri — a central midfielder being deployed as a central defender — strode forward and shot, more in hope than in expectation, from 35 yards.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 6 Dec. 2022
  • But a year later, more than two dozen of them remain stuck in Afghanistan, stalled by bureaucratic wrangling, the vagaries of international diplomacy and the obduracy of the Taliban government.
    — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2022
Definition of obduracy
Noun
  • In a variation on her character from Parasite, Cho deftly underplays Yi-je’s insensitivity as another woman projecting a blithe lack of awareness of her privilege.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Sherman is known to savage, with unglamorous insensitivity, the vaunted creative directors of the great houses.
    — Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of insensitivity
Noun
  • To lead a child to a gas chamber demands a hardness of heart that must be cultivated.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Applications Across High-Temperature Industries The combination of optical performance, hardness and temperature resistance makes sapphire useful across several technology sectors.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of hardness
Noun
  • The reduction ranged from 16% in the region tied to planning (dorsal putamen) to 20% in the region most closely tied to motivation and apathy (ventral striatum).
    — Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Lazy is a character judgment requiring atonement, while apathy is a syndrome requiring treatment.
    — Michael P.H. Stanley, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of apathy

Browse Nearby Words

hard-heartedly
hard-heartedness
hardihood
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Cite this Entry

“Hard-heartedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-heartedness. Accessed 22 Sep. 2026.

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