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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartlessness
Noun
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These passages highlight the typically human cruelty and hypocrisy of fighting for one’s own liberty while denying it to one’s neighbors.
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Last week, Dixon also pleaded no contest to the three felony animal cruelty charges.
Noun
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Unfortunately, Florida’s leaders seem to have set their sights on any reminder that the state’s historic brutality should still inspire action today.
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More than a decade later, Ike Barinholtz is opening up about the Police Academy reboot that was scrapped amid a rise in lethal police brutality.
Cite this Entry
“Heartlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartlessness. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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