1
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
an insensitive remark about his deceased wife that was incredibly rude
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in numb
lacking in sensation or feeling
fingers rendered insensitive by the cold
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of insensitive
My parents acknowledged that selling without a collective goodbye had been insensitive.
—
Chiara Barzini, Vogue, 9 May 2026
Among the benefits of employing a more diverse work staff, especially in leadership roles, include media content that is more culturally inclusive and aware, and less likely to be insensitive, offensive, or unfair to minority groups.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 May 2026
The next three lines modify Vim’s search behavior, making all-lowercase searches case-insensitive but keeping mixed-case searches case-sensitive and highlighting all the search results at once.
—Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 6 May 2026
Our hands soon became insensitive, clumsy hooks.
—Jim Hoagland, Outdoor Life, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for insensitive
Chiara Barzini, Vogue, 9 May 2026
Among the benefits of employing a more diverse work staff, especially in leadership roles, include media content that is more culturally inclusive and aware, and less likely to be insensitive, offensive, or unfair to minority groups.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 May 2026
The next three lines modify Vim’s search behavior, making all-lowercase searches case-insensitive but keeping mixed-case searches case-sensitive and highlighting all the search results at once.
—Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 6 May 2026
Our hands soon became insensitive, clumsy hooks.
—Jim Hoagland, Outdoor Life, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for insensitive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insensitive
Adjective
-
Serenity Maggie’s (and Sweet Magnolias‘) trip to New York was cut short as Season 5 offered a juxtaposition between small-town values and ruthless big-city corporate culture.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
11 June 2026
-
Ruffalo will voice Nero, a scrappy black cat, and Fishburne will play Rocco, a ruthless cat mob boss.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
11 June 2026
Adjective
-
Feeling numb or unable to experience emotions.—
Julie Kaplow,
USA Today,
30 May 2026
-
Outgunned in Monaco, over-cautious in Lyon, no holding midfielder in the final defeat to Chelsea in 2021 and a Real Madrid remontada the following year which left them numb.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
25 May 2026
Adjective
-
Having catalogued the Black Death’s horrifying effects, Ibn Khatima went on to outline a series of preventative measures and active treatments designed to combat this merciless scourge.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 May 2026
-
The jokes on social media will be endless, and opposing fans will be merciless.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
20 May 2026
Adjective
-
When Bill’s older brother Henry (Barry Ward) finds the pianist in numbed solitude in his dingy apartment, Bill has canceled all his upcoming gigs, saying Scotty cannot be replaced.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Ingber also notes the numbed response to these strikes from much of the American public, something that, in part, may come from the routine nature of these drone strikes as something that the nation has become desensitized to dropping bombs on enemies.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.—
Emily Cox,
ARTnews.com,
22 May 2026
-
Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.—
Natasha Bazika,
Martha Stewart,
9 May 2026
Adjective
-
The suspect was taken into custody without incident, and the children were found safe and asleep in their room.—
Dean Fioresi,
CBS News,
9 June 2026
-
Trump has been accused of falling asleep at Cabinet and Oval Office meetings, though has denied several incidents.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
Adjective
-
Madonna hunts pheasant in the English countryside, Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant, Harry Harlow conducts callous experiments on monkeys, and Jimmy Carter fends off a swamp rabbit attack.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2026
-
This is a distortion of the law, and a display of callous indifference to the tragedies that moved Congress to pass the Refugee Act.—
Elizabeth Holtzman,
Time,
9 June 2026
Adjective
-
One says, God can always see you with his unfeeling precision.—
Sandra Lim,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
-
As the actor tells Glamour, most were written according to stereotypes and portrayed as cold, unfeeling, aggressive, or robotic.—
Sam Reed,
Glamour,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Insensitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensitive. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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