as in cruelty
disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others
the gung ho heartlessness with which the secret police tortured prisoners was beyond belief
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Recent Examples of heartlessness
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
Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartlessness
Noun
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What has changed in recent years, Pettman argues, is the ease—and cruelty—with which people can enter and exit one another’s lives.—
Anna Holmes,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
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Both characters struggle with the weight of their guilt, but where Cole has fallen deeper into cruelty, Grasso takes the first step on a path to redemption.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The sight of Musk swinging a chainsaw onstage at a conservative conference captured the pell-mell approach, not to mention the brutality, of the billionaire’s plan to bring the federal government to heel.—
Andy Kroll,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
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And as civil rights protesters proved decades ago, a righteous, peaceful protest that is met with brutality can unmute even a silent majority.—
Nancy Gibbs,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Heartlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartlessness. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
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