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
-
Noah Thomas’s life takes a dangerous turn when a chance reunion with an old high school friend, Parker Coleman, entangles him in a ruthless crime ring.—
Jon Stojan,
Variety,
18 June 2026
-
Sean Connery first portrayed the legendary spy as a confident and ruthless Cold War warrior, while Roger Moore added camp and a gentlemanly touch to the role.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
17 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
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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
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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
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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
-
When that fire started four years ago, Zowey McCue was asleep in a locked bathroom, where a plywood slab placed over the tub served as her makeshift bed, officials said.—
Caroline Silva,
AJC.com,
15 June 2026
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The memory foam layers adjust to your sleep position, which makes falling asleep easy.—
Audrey Lee,
Architectural Digest,
15 June 2026
Adjective
-
Watching the movie and Marcel’s fragile belief in a world so callous is to feel a surge of possibility for humanity.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
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Kantor expresses an empathy for young people that the more callous of this year’s graduation speakers seemed to lack.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
Adjective
-
One says, God can always see you with his unfeeling precision.—
Sandra Lim,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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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 19 Jun. 2026.
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