senseless

adjective

ˈsen(t)s-ləs How to pronounce senseless (audio)
Definition of senselessnext
1
as in unconscious
having lost consciousness she collapsed, senseless, after hitting her head

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in meaningless
having no meaning a pretty but senseless phrase

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment a senseless decision to risk his life on a practical joke

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation even the senseless sea seemed determined to swamp the storm-tossed ship

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 As a ruthless hitman (Javier Bardem) tries to track him down, the local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to make sense of it all and faces an existential crisis about the senseless violence of the world today. — Eric Farwell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June 2026 The boy’s family and county leaders are renewing their plea for witnesses to come forward, saying justice for a child lost to senseless street violence is long overdue. — Seamus Bozeman follow, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026 The moves were senseless, short-sighted and emblematic of everything wrong with professional sports in this day and age. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 19 May 2026 The ordeal was no longer a senseless drive to nowhere but a sensible one to nowhere. — Weike Wang, New Yorker, 17 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for senseless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for senseless
  1. unconscious
  2. meaningless
  3. dumb
  4. foolish
  5. inanimate
  6. stupid
  7. silly
  8. insensate
Adjective
  • Importantly, this is happening at an unconscious level, meaning that women aren’t necessarily purposefully excluded at work.
    — Melissa A. Wheeler, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
  • Officers found Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan unconscious.
    — Chelsea Bailey, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
Definition of unconscious
Adjective
  • Of course, this would depend on whether the managers choose to pick their strongest teams in what for some is a meaningless, even annoying extra fixture, for squads who just want to go home.
    — Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 18 July 2026
  • As Simón gathered the ball, Mbappé simply ran up and jumped on him, much as a small boy might assault his older brother, in meaningless and unproductive rage, for refusing to share an ice cream.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026
Definition of meaningless
Adjective
  • Still crazy enough to do something dumb, but mature enough to curb your impulses.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 20 July 2026
  • Instead of the Tech Right making the conservative movement smarter, the conservative movement seemed to be making the Tech Right dumber.
    — Gilad Edelman, The Atlantic, 19 July 2026
Definition of dumb
Adjective
  • Johnson continued this week to push for his foolish and counterproductive desire to impose a $33-per-month tax on each Chicago job generated by the city’s largest private-sector employers.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 10 July 2026
  • As is, this is a foolish thriller that prompts the occasional snicker but not much more.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 9 July 2026
Definition of foolish
Adjective
  • Then, in European culture, Christianity appeared, a religion which made an astonishing discovery, namely, that the primary cause for everything—humans, animals, nature, fertility, the inanimate world, the universe, the cosmos—could be concentrated into one single point.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 28 June 2026
  • As a result, the concept of animal rights was non-existent and people were free to treat animals like any other inanimate property.
    — Rob Toews, Forbes.com, 22 June 2026
Definition of inanimate
Adjective
  • There are plenty of videos from Yellowstone National Park involving tourists doing breathtakingly stupid things around wild animals.
    — Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 12 July 2026
  • Even when Romanzy goes off on how stupid and ugly Caleb is — and gossips that his parents abandoned him because something must be wrong with him — Mary goes along with it.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 11 July 2026
Definition of stupid
Adjective
  • She’s seen during a dance rehearsal, a silly social media clip, and onstage from their Lollapalooza set, the latter of which came before her announcement in February to step away from Katseye.
    — Jaeden Pinder, Rolling Stone, 15 July 2026
  • Starring British comedy favourites such as Kevin Eldon and Miranda Hart, Hyperdrive is a very silly show that ended up more like a workplace sitcom in space rather than the next Red Dwarf.
    — William Worrall, Space.com, 15 July 2026
Definition of silly
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
Definition of insensate

Browse Nearby Words

senseful
senseless
senselessly
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Senseless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/senseless. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on senseless

Nglish: Translation of senseless for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of maverick

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

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

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

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

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

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

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
thumbnail graphic with text word of the day quiz
Weekly "Word of the Day" Quiz See how well you know each Word of the Day for Ju...
See All