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mercilessness

noun

as in ruthlessness

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mercilessness And though Din Djarian has a touch of revenge-thriller mercilessness about him, that’s more than offset by the fact that his apprentice and symbolic son is Grogu, an infant member of the same humanoid-alien species as Yoda. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 19 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mercilessness
  1. ruthlessness
  2. cruelty
  3. savagery
  4. inhumanity
  5. heartlessness
  6. barbarity
  7. sadism
  8. brutality
Noun
  • The army Mladic created to fight in Bosnia was a model of ruthlessness, daring and brutality in the Serb warrior tradition, once prized in the life-or-death partisan struggle against the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia in World War Two.
    — Ivana Sekularac, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The danger occurs if that ruthlessness veers into institutional coldness.
    — James McNicholas, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of ruthlessness
Noun
  • The beauty of the landscape will sit alongside the cruelty unfolding among the characters.
    — Callum McLennan, Variety, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Florida law has specific statutory provisions that address feral and free-ranging cats, which are considered domestic animals under state law that are protected by the animal cruelty statutes.
    — Michael L. Hyman, Miami Herald, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of cruelty
Noun
  • Others are inclined to rank evils according to the amount of savagery evident in the perpetrator, not to the damage inflicted on the world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Despite Abby’s savagery, Hall saw a unique reflection of the character and the title killers in the series.
    — William Earl, Variety, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of savagery
Noun
  • This is pure hatred, and condemning this kind of inhumanity shouldn’t be hard.
    — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 3 June 2026
  • Their willingness to film their inhumanity echoed the Nazis of the Third Reich, who likewise filmed their mass atrocities.
    — Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 14 May 2026
Definition of inhumanity
Noun
  • 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
Definition of heartlessness
Noun
  • What wasn’t new was the continuation of the kind of barbarity that dominated conflicts of recent memory, from Cambodia to Rwanda.
    — David Friend, Vanity Fair, 10 Sep. 2026
  • The report comes as the RSF lays siege to El Obeid, where analysts say similar barbarity is imminent.
    — Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 9 July 2026
Definition of barbarity
Noun
  • Lagioia’s book goes into disturbing detail about what came next; suffice it to say that Luca’s murder tested the bounds of sadism.
    — Jay Weissberg, Variety, 4 Sep. 2026
  • This wouldn’t be a Reacher adventure without a soupçon of sadism.
    — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of sadism
Noun
  • And despite the brutality of the crime, Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter Lizzie quickly became a prime suspect.
    — Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2026
  • The atrocities committed in Chile were similar to those in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Central America, where leftist movements and guerrillas were squashed with incredible brutality.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of brutality

Browse Nearby Words

mercilessly
mercilessness
mercurial
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Cite this Entry

“Mercilessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mercilessness. Accessed 25 Sep. 2026.

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