1
as in unconscious
having lost consciousness she collapsed, senseless, after hitting her head

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3
as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily he may be a little absentminded, but he's really not as senseless as he seems

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as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation even the senseless sea seemed determined to swamp the storm-tossed ship

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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 senseless The family of a beloved 27-year-old Navy veteran is reeling after he was shot to death in a senseless Bronx road rage clash. Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 15 June 2025 The girls taking her out of the competition was senseless, as Iris and Amaya didn’t have a similar connection with someone else. Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 23 June 2025 The book’s a meld of true crime, memoir and social commentary, but with a mission: to shock readers into a deeper understanding of the American Nightmare, ecological devastation entwined with senseless sadism. Hamilton Cain, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025 But Walter’s interested in the fear that draws people toward cruel and senseless ideologies. Emily Temple may 27, Literary Hub, 27 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for senseless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for senseless
Adjective
  • Man who caused crash was ‘crying on his knees’ When police arrived at the crash, Brooke was found unconscious and bleeding from her head, according to court documents.
    Amaia Gavica, Idaho Statesman, 26 June 2025
  • Some recounted seeing a man knocked unconscious, a flight attendant who suffered an injury to their arm and another burned by hot water that spilled from the drink cart.
    Colson Thayer, People.com, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • The most likely candidates for an add would be the 2024 seventh-round pick Hanson or Driskell, but neither had an offensive snap last season outside of the team’s meaningless week 18 game against Denver.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 3 July 2025
  • Choose one, and land in a place that reduces the number of meaningless games for a conference that plays more Group of Five and FCS cupcakes than any other Power Four league.
    Blake Toppmeyer, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
Adjective
  • Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.
    Daniel Jackson, Allure, 18 July 2017
  • Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.
    Andy Benoit, The MMQB, 10 July 2017
Adjective
  • Underestimating China would be a grave error, but underestimating the United States would be equally foolish.
    Damien Ma, Foreign Affairs, 1 July 2025
  • Gi-hun himself proved a tough protagonist to root for when the show began, as a foolish gambling addict hoping to reconnect with his family but who becomes obsessed with the games anyway.
    Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • Partners View all partners Tropical reefs might look like inanimate rock, but these colorful seascapes are built by tiny jellyfish-like animals called corals.
    Noam Vogt-Vincent, The Conversation, 6 June 2025
  • Still, what separates living, breathing beings from inanimate matter remains frustratingly set in my mind.
    Elizabeth Rush, The Atlantic, 26 May 2025
Adjective
  • Mexican men were dismissed as violent Panchos and stupid Pedros.
    Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2025
  • There’s more stupid romance around harder substances but few chemicals are more hazardous to ambition than THC.
    Benjamin Hale June 23, Literary Hub, 23 June 2025
Adjective
  • One of Netflix’s big movie plays for July is the sequel to its very silly but very fun action fantasy film The Old Guard.
    Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 1 July 2025
  • None of that, however, excuses the silly and juvenile behavior of the Assembly’s majority Democrats last week when the chamber took up a resolution commemorating Pride month.
    Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2025
Adjective
  • The brain, like other internal organs, is insensate, its lack of sensory receptors attested by videos of virtuoso violinists who play on unfazed as neurosurgeons go to work inside their skulls.
    Matthew Ponsford, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2024
  • But states have used midazolam alone — and at much higher doses — in executions since 2013, claiming the drug will render people insensate to pain before the administration of other lethal injection drugs.
    Lauren Gill, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Senseless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/senseless. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.

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