as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
under his slash-and-burn management ethic, even longtime employees were summarily downsized for the sake of corporate competitiveness
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Recent Examples of slash-and-burn
Here and there, a plume of smoke rose up from a field; slash-and-burn farming, locally known as tavy, is still practiced here.
—
Chris Schalkx, Vogue, 30 Sep. 2025
Frustrated attendees repeatedly pressed Marshall over President Donald Trump’s actions and the impact of billionaire Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn cost-cutting measures on federal workers and veterans.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
The slash-and-burn approach to funding academic research counters that goal.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 20 Aug. 2025
The push by Trump and Elon Musk, who led DOGE before leaving the White House in May, drew widespread condemnation over the administration's slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the bureaucracy.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Aug. 2025
Trump’s slash-and-burn attack on our nation’s arts and culture industry can only be blamed for so much.
—Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 18 July 2025
The state initiatives have a markedly different character from Trump’s slash-and-burn approach, symbolized by Musk’s chain saw-brandishing appearance at a Conservative Political Action Committee appearance in February.
—Marc Levy, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2025
That practice, known as slash-and-burn farming, actually began 12,000 years ago, though it didn’t get started in earnest in North America until 1500 when European settlers arrived.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 3 July 2025
Chris Schalkx, Vogue, 30 Sep. 2025
Frustrated attendees repeatedly pressed Marshall over President Donald Trump’s actions and the impact of billionaire Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn cost-cutting measures on federal workers and veterans.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
The slash-and-burn approach to funding academic research counters that goal.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 20 Aug. 2025
The push by Trump and Elon Musk, who led DOGE before leaving the White House in May, drew widespread condemnation over the administration's slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the bureaucracy.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Aug. 2025
Trump’s slash-and-burn attack on our nation’s arts and culture industry can only be blamed for so much.
—Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 18 July 2025
The state initiatives have a markedly different character from Trump’s slash-and-burn approach, symbolized by Musk’s chain saw-brandishing appearance at a Conservative Political Action Committee appearance in February.
—Marc Levy, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2025
That practice, known as slash-and-burn farming, actually began 12,000 years ago, though it didn’t get started in earnest in North America until 1500 when European settlers arrived.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 3 July 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slash-and-burn
Adjective
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Those hoping to snatch a home in this busy period faced limited options on the market, as the country’s developers had chronically underbuilt compared to demand in the years following the subprime mortgage crisis, leading to ruthless bidding wars and climbing home values.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Hedda orchestrates a ruthless game of manipulation, where lust, jealousy and betrayal collide.—
Patrick Hipes,
Deadline,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Just clean, merciless, fundamental football.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Chat members were merciless in their rhetoric against fellow Young Republicans in competing factions of the organization.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
15 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Slash-and-burn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slash-and-burn. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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