as in ruthlessness
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for mercilessness
Noun
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As The Traitors heats up, Peacock is urging fans to keep the ruthlessness off social media.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 Jan. 2026 -
There are several historical accounts of his ruthlessness to people at the fort.—
Kurt Snibbe,
Oc Register,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
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One has simply grown so accustomed to his cruelty that, in an episode with so many other people acting on their worst impulses, Stephen stands out for momentarily acting on a good one.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
10 Feb. 2026
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Gray faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of second-degree cruelty to children.—
La'Tasha Givens,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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By now, the Syrian opposition, once led by nonviolent protesters, was dominated by Islamists, who were divided and feckless and could be easily lumped together with the telegenic savageries of the Islamic State, known as ISIS.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
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O’Connell is terrific, but both his character and his performance are badly served by the prolonged savagery of certain scenes.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Short’s personality and complexity, attributes long discarded as her life became bastardized, stand in stark contrast to the inhumanity of her death.—
Nathan Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
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Once normalized, inhumanity – recast as efficiency – arguably became the defining logic of modern management: extracting ever more output to enrich owners, regardless of the human toll.—
Valerie L. Myers,
The Conversation,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
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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
Noun
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Thousands of children have been terrorized, detained, and many have been deported because of ICE’s unchecked barbarity.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
26 Jan. 2026
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Cathy escapes, the Jimmies' numbers are diminished, and the stomach-churning barbarity finally comes to an end.—
Megan McCluskey,
Time,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The series begins before Gein has ever killed, in 1945, as dawning awareness of death camps in Europe fills the air with sadism and conspiracy thinking.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
30 Sep. 2025
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The invading parasite is a culture of hate and paranoia and sadism — mass hysteria as sanctioned by the government that is supposed to protect you.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Critics, meanwhile, brought up police brutality, citing the killing of George Floyd, the video of which spurred national outrage.—
Shira Moolten,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Feb. 2026
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Outside the home are the brutalities and horrors of war and the aftermath of war and of life under the Taliban’s first regime; inside are the brutalities and horrors of domestic violence at the hands of Rasheed.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Mercilessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mercilessness. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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