as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
gave the beggar in the street a pitiless look and kept on walking
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Recent Examples of pitiless
The margin of error, even on the outside of the CFL, UFL and NFL, is pitiless.
—
Dan Robson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2025
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
From Hollywood's Golden Age and the '70s catastrophe obsession to today, these films have unearthed every pitiless corner of nature's wrath, from towering tsunamis and viral pandemics to all-out apocalypses and more.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 3 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiless
Dan Robson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2025
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
From Hollywood's Golden Age and the '70s catastrophe obsession to today, these films have unearthed every pitiless corner of nature's wrath, from towering tsunamis and viral pandemics to all-out apocalypses and more.
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 3 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pitiless
Adjective
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The Bills are ruthless in the red zone, and don’t have much need for either a kicker or punter, but Prater and Mitch Wishnowsky have both had solid seasons.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
15 Jan. 2026
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Our federally dependent market must endure three more years of a ruthless and petty federal administration with a national mandate to cut spending.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Iran’s attorney general has vowed to pursue merciless legal action against the latter, including the death penalty.—
Hira Humayun,
CNN Money,
12 Jan. 2026
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With a merciless 56-22 thumping of Oregon in the Peach Bowl, the Hoosiers punched their ticket to their first national championship game appearance in program history.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Without prosecutors empowered to bring charges against wrongdoers, judges willing to strike down overreach, legislators daring enough to demand investigations and change laws, and citizens outraged enough to protest, any revelations by journalists will fall on stony ground.—
Susan Chira,
Foreign Affairs,
2 Dec. 2025
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After that historic journey, NASA charted a new course toward Apophis, a stony metal-rich NEA that offers a sharp scientific contrast to Bennu's carbon-rich composition (and was once thought to pose a serious impact risk to Earth).—
Samantha Mathewson,
Space.com,
28 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pitiless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pitiless. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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