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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Most importantly, Kaiser went on national radio and warned that democracy itself could not survive if America returned to the greed, monopoly and economic cruelty that had scarred the industrial age.—
Tom Debley,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
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O'Neill was charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, two dog housing violations and one misdemeanor for violating bail conditions from his previous charges, according to DPH.—
Marcella Baietto,
CBS News,
15 June 2026
Noun
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If Helmy finds in the Party the kind of fellowship and outlet for his energies that a good career might otherwise have satisfied, Erich embraces his new identity with a snarling brutality that is a repudiation of his former sense of humiliation.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
19 Aug. 2025
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Bringing nuance to our understanding of Asian fetishization, Yu unveils not only her victimization but her participation and, ultimately, her healing and empowerment from the brutality of objectification.—
Gabrielle Bellot,
Literary Hub,
19 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Heartlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartlessness. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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