as in mercilessly
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Recent Examples of ruthlessly
Instead of The Expanse’s sprawling epic of humanity’s journey to the stars, The Captive’s War sees humans brought under the thumb of a ruthlessly controlling alien empire and struggling to resist, build lives and maybe even find a way to win.
—
Sarah Lewin Frasier, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2026
The Apollo program was centrally planned and ruthlessly methodical.
—David W. Brown, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
The division of responsibility has left Israel to hunt and kill Iranian leaders ruthlessly, using an intelligence apparatus built up to assassinate with lethal proficiency.
—Greg Miller, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2026
What does ruthlessly cloning the same mouse tell us about our biology?
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
The Anabaptists were a radical nonconformist sect that took the egalitarian, pacifist, and renunciatory injunctions of the Bible seriously and tried to organize communal living, before being ruthlessly persecuted by the authorities and other Protestant sects.
—Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
Protests and demonstrations demanding political reform have been ruthlessly suppressed.
—Ghassan E. El-Eid, Hartford Courant, 15 Mar. 2026
San Diego can cut teams apart in possession or on the counter and ruthlessly preys upon opponents’ mistakes.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026
In this, Khamenei was remarkably, ruthlessly successful.
—Karim Sadjadpour, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2026
Sarah Lewin Frasier, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2026
The Apollo program was centrally planned and ruthlessly methodical.
—David W. Brown, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
The division of responsibility has left Israel to hunt and kill Iranian leaders ruthlessly, using an intelligence apparatus built up to assassinate with lethal proficiency.
—Greg Miller, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2026
What does ruthlessly cloning the same mouse tell us about our biology?
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
The Anabaptists were a radical nonconformist sect that took the egalitarian, pacifist, and renunciatory injunctions of the Bible seriously and tried to organize communal living, before being ruthlessly persecuted by the authorities and other Protestant sects.
—Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
Protests and demonstrations demanding political reform have been ruthlessly suppressed.
—Ghassan E. El-Eid, Hartford Courant, 15 Mar. 2026
San Diego can cut teams apart in possession or on the counter and ruthlessly preys upon opponents’ mistakes.
—Daniel Sperry, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026
In this, Khamenei was remarkably, ruthlessly successful.
—Karim Sadjadpour, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruthlessly
Adverb
-
The fans mercilessly booed Shohei Ohtani, who turned down $700 million from the Blue Jays to take $700 million from the Dodgers, and outfielder Kyle Tucker, who turned down $350 million (over 10 years) from the Blue Jays to take $240 million (over four years) from the Dodgers.—
Bill Shaikin,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Apr. 2026
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At his previous school, he was mercilessly bullied.—
Heidi Stevens,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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The first hour, set at a resort that’s like a singles cruise through the Twilight Zone (or Bachelor in Paradise beamed in from a brutal alternate universe), contains some of the most pitilessly funny scenes of the filmmaker’s career.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Adverb
-
Victim Nyron Shaw’s father said the driver who mowed his son down last year in Ocean Hill a day before Independence Day should face the maximum penalty for allegedly driving twice the speed limit and heartlessly taking off, leaving his son to die.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
8 Apr. 2026
-
In the process, Joel heartlessly killed some innocent people, including medical professionals.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
26 Aug. 2025
Adverb
-
Now my son is dead after suffering unmercifully.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
6 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
Marley’s level of fame and influence meant that, after his death at 36, his legacy, his spirit, his brand was to be shaped by a record industry that could be callously indifferent to truth or quality at the expense of revenue.—
Eric Harvey,
Pitchfork,
18 Jan. 2026
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Some industry representatives ahead of the meeting expressed worry that attending risked casting them as willing participants in a callously opportunistic grab for Venezuela’s crude, people familiar with the matter said.—
Bloomberg Wire,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was upended by a bus accident at 18.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
30 Nov. 2025
-
Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was upended by a bus accident at 18.—
Hannah Schoenbaum,
Fortune,
24 Nov. 2025
Adverb
-
For those who know the play well, some of Mantello’s choices are most striking, especially the horror here of the famous hotel-room scene with a tawdry lover (brutally played by Katherine Romans), an act born of loneliness that destroys a father’s relationship with his son forever.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026
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The woman told officers that at some point, Morehead came back and brutally attacked her, including punching her in the face and stomach and dragging her back inside.—
Meredith Colias-Pete,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Building Alligator Alcatraz and being proud of treating people inhumanely while at the same time stealing money for his charity is disgusting.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
25 Mar. 2026
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The oversight tour came after activists alleged detainees were being treated inhumanely at the facility.—
Tim Dunn,
Boston Herald,
14 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ruthlessly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruthlessly. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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