RUTHLESSNESS Synonyms: 63 Similar and Opposite Words

ruthlessness

noun

Definition of ruthlessness

as in mercilessness

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Recent Examples of ruthlessness Best known for his earnest politico Josh Lyman in Sorkin’s The West Wing, Whitford here turns zealous and mean, his Colonel Jessup ruthlessness incarnate, intractable and convinced of his own indispensable value to society and order. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2026 Chelsea have attempted 11 shots inside the first seven minutes of games, more than any other side, but their fast starts have also been underpinned by a clinical ruthlessness in front of goal. — Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026 There's a tricky tonal balance in treating the lawyers' gasp-inducing ruthlessness as entertaining and even amusing while also allowing its consequences to be clear. — Linda Holmes, NPR, 3 Oct. 2026 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 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

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

Police have arrested a woman on an animal cruelty charge in connection with a dog that suffered weight loss, dehydration and other issues.

— Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 11 Nov. 2026
And when Here There Are Blueberries does shift its lens the testimony of Auschwitz survivor Lili Jacob, also embodied by Cunningham, and an album of photos that depict the cruelty Höcker’s collection elides, the reversal stuns you.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2026

Definition of cruelty

Noun

Adapting Su Tong’s 1990 novel Wives and Concubines, Zhang took a stark tale of female oppression and turned it into a haunting sonata of color, light, composition, mood, and sound, without diluting its slow-burn savagery.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2026
The poem’s anguished meditations on love’s savagery and isolation are designed to draw blood.

— Merve Emre, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of savagery

Noun

Their resistance to Trump’s bullying, corruption, and heartlessness has gained new political force.

— David Remnick, New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2026
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

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

The story is organized by the seasons, and the director uses changes in the weather and the light to build the picture’s gathering mood of ossified brutality.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2026
The brutality of American immigration enforcement is nothing new.

— Francisco Cantú, New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2026

Definition of brutality

Noun

As much as many of us want to see justice prevail for all the lies, corruption, inhumanity and retribution, Americans are hurting, and the focus should be on relieving that hurt.

— Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 10 Nov. 2026
The brutality and inhumanity that white Americans inflicted on free and enslaved Black people drove them out.

— Karen Masterson, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of inhumanity

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“Ruthlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruthlessness. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of ruthlessness

noun

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