RUTHLESSNESS Synonyms: 63 Similar and Opposite Words

ruthlessness

noun

Definition of ruthlessness

as in mercilessness

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

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 ruthlessness 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 But this time, the Players entered the palace fully aware of the format’s twists and traps, armed with strategies, stronger instincts, and a ruthlessness that caught me off guard. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026 Russia’s war on Ukraine has become a grinding tally of raw numbers, and Kyiv is executing its strategy with the ruthlessness of a corporate efficiency expert, according to the RAND think tank. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2026 Directed by Martin Scorsese and set in the late 80s and early 90s, the movie starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, an uninhibited young stockbroker who becomes enamored by the excess and ruthlessness of Wall Street. — Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 19 July 2026 Something in the liberal heart recoils in the face of righteous ruthlessness. — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026 The series follows a fictionalized version of the Westies, a small Irish-American gang in the mid- to late-20th century whose ruthlessness and brutality gave them an outsized reputation. — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 2 July 2026 Released at the tail end of Reaganomics, Carpenter’s most politically forward thriller now feels like a decoder ring for ’80s-era greed, detachment, complacency and ruthlessness. — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruthlessness

Noun

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

Definition of mercilessness

Noun

McKinsey was charged in Alameda County with one count of cruelty to a child and corporal injury to a child, both misdemeanors.

— Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026
Almost a decade later in its Broadway debut, it’s lost none of that, and White’s production — perhaps inevitably given the arc of those passing years — adds sharpness to its cruelties and weight to its grief.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of cruelty

Noun

As attendees, including Ariana DeBose and Patricia Clarkson, tucked into sweet Forelle pears and a main course of Branzino, the atmosphere was decidedly more serene than the savagery witnessed earlier on stage.

— Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 23 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of savagery

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

School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, might well come closest in approach to Kimberly Belflower’s urgent John Proctor Is The Villain in its insistence that homeroom sadism doesn’t just spring from hormones or reindeer game competition.

— Greg Evans, Deadline, 28 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of sadism

Noun

In June 2020, a majority of Clemson’s football team joined a march of roughly 3,000 people protesting police brutality.

— Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Here, in this image of an ingenious skidding kitten—in both its brutality and its beautiful, dumb, playful resilience—lies the wisdom of Marcon’s art.

— Matthew McLean, Artforum, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of brutality

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

Browse Nearby Words

ruthlessly

ruthlessness

ruts

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Ruthlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruthlessness. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of ruthlessness

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

tittle

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes