Synonyms of pitiless

pitiless

adjective

ˈpi-ti-ləs 

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ruthless
• merciless
• stony
• hard
• remorseless
• oppressive
• brutal
• heartless
• cruel
• callous
• harsh
• unmerciful
• abusive
• inhuman
• stern
• compassionless
• hateful
• grim
• unsparing
• vicious
• inhumane
• soulless
• unfeeling
• malicious
• obdurate
• tough
• hard-hearted
• unsympathetic
• insensitive
• insensate
• affectless
• uncharitable
• take-no-prisoners
• cold-blooded
• indurate
• slash-and-burn
• thick-skinned
• savage
• pachydermatous
• hard-boiled
• severe
• desensitized
• case-hardened
• uncaring
• thoughtless
• ironhearted
• unthinking
• rough
• heedless
• mean
• ungentle
• stonyhearted
• unfriendly
• boorish
• inconsiderate
• spiteful
• malevolent
• unloving
• virulent
• disagreeable
• cold
• barbarous
• bestial
• rough-and-tumble
• brutish
• surly
• heavy-handed
• acrimonious
• hard-bitten
• ill-natured
• jackbooted
• ironfisted
• rancorous
• sledgehammer
• ironhanded
• evil-minded
• austere
• ill-tempered
• frosty
• knock-down, drag-out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sympathetic
• warm
• merciful
• sensitive
• humane
• compassionate
• charitable
• gentle
• benevolent
• kindly
• kind
• mild
• tender
• lenient
• indulgent
• friendly
• softhearted
• kindhearted
• gracious
• warmhearted
• benignant
• tenderhearted
• cordial
• loving
• tolerant
• affectionate
• good-natured
• understanding
• clement
• good-tempered
• fond

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pitiless

But Lincoln was the Declaration’s most pitiless and most brilliant editor. — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 4 May 2026

The scene offers a pitiless view of the sexism, and materialism, of the culture in which the girls were being raised. — Mark Oppenheimer, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2026

In his experiences and chronicles of the great ideological battles of the twentieth century, Curzio Malaparte was a shape-shifter—pitiless, clinical, cynical, unsentimental, indifferent to morality and idealism. — Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 5 Feb. 2026

Told together, the overlapping stories deal with issues of mental illness, lives of quiet desperation, and the pitiless march of time. — David Morgan, CBS News, 29 Jan. 2026