1
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
gave the homeless people on the street only an unfeeling glance
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in numb
lacking in sensation or feeling
her heart was as cold and hard as the unfeeling marble statue in her garden
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation
she spoke politely even to the unfeeling virtual assistant on her phone
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unfeeling
There’d be too much sympathy in watching this cookie get pulverized by unfeeling overlords.
—
Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
For example, 1975’s Welfare carefully documents the hoops that working people had to jump through to obtain welfare benefits at New York’s Waverly Welfare Center, representing the government as an intractable and unfeeling force.
—Vikram Murthi, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026
Al Pacino has a small but memorable role as Hall’s father, presented as so greedy and unfeeling as to force us to think that maybe Kiritsis had a legitimate axe to grind.
—Mick Lasalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Jan. 2026
The adversarial shapes work on humans, too—wearing thimbles to emulate the cold unfeeling steel of a robot and using two fingers in a pinching grasp, the researchers were able to verify that the objects were hard to pick up.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for unfeeling
Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
For example, 1975’s Welfare carefully documents the hoops that working people had to jump through to obtain welfare benefits at New York’s Waverly Welfare Center, representing the government as an intractable and unfeeling force.
—Vikram Murthi, The Atlantic, 22 Feb. 2026
Al Pacino has a small but memorable role as Hall’s father, presented as so greedy and unfeeling as to force us to think that maybe Kiritsis had a legitimate axe to grind.
—Mick Lasalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Jan. 2026
The adversarial shapes work on humans, too—wearing thimbles to emulate the cold unfeeling steel of a robot and using two fingers in a pinching grasp, the researchers were able to verify that the objects were hard to pick up.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for unfeeling
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unfeeling
Adjective
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Noah Thomas’s life takes a dangerous turn when a chance reunion with an old high school friend, Parker Coleman, entangles him in a ruthless crime ring.—
Jon Stojan,
Variety,
18 June 2026
-
Sean Connery first portrayed the legendary spy as a confident and ruthless Cold War warrior, while Roger Moore added camp and a gentlemanly touch to the role.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
17 June 2026
Adjective
-
Feeling numb or unable to experience emotions.—
Julie Kaplow,
USA Today,
30 May 2026
-
Outgunned in Monaco, over-cautious in Lyon, no holding midfielder in the final defeat to Chelsea in 2021 and a Real Madrid remontada the following year which left them numb.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
25 May 2026
Adjective
-
Both cameras have extremely sticky tracking systems that focus on the eyes of people, wildlife, pets, and insects, as well as inanimate subjects like trains, planes, automobiles, and motorbikes.—
Jim Fisher,
PC Magazine,
13 May 2026
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But there are inanimate pets in the cemetery.—
Jennie Key,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Having catalogued the Black Death’s horrifying effects, Ibn Khatima went on to outline a series of preventative measures and active treatments designed to combat this merciless scourge.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 May 2026
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The jokes on social media will be endless, and opposing fans will be merciless.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
20 May 2026
Adjective
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When Bill’s older brother Henry (Barry Ward) finds the pianist in numbed solitude in his dingy apartment, Bill has canceled all his upcoming gigs, saying Scotty cannot be replaced.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
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Ingber also notes the numbed response to these strikes from much of the American public, something that, in part, may come from the routine nature of these drone strikes as something that the nation has become desensitized to dropping bombs on enemies.—
Rebecca Schneid,
Time,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In July 2023, a 57-year-old woman died after becoming unconscious during an eight-mile hike in the remote Tuweep area of Grand Canyon National Park, where temperatures were above 100 degrees, according to the NPS.—
Jessica Mekles,
FOXNews.com,
15 June 2026
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Prosecutors, who had sought seven years and seven months in jail, said that the four women accusing him of rape, in both the proven and unproven cases, had each time been too unconscious or too incapacitated to resist him after attending parties.—
Gwladys Fouche,
USA Today,
15 June 2026
Adjective
-
Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.—
Emily Cox,
ARTnews.com,
22 May 2026
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Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.—
Natasha Bazika,
Martha Stewart,
9 May 2026
Adjective
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When that fire started four years ago, Zowey McCue was asleep in a locked bathroom, where a plywood slab placed over the tub served as her makeshift bed, officials said.—
Caroline Silva,
AJC.com,
15 June 2026
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The memory foam layers adjust to your sleep position, which makes falling asleep easy.—
Audrey Lee,
Architectural Digest,
15 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unfeeling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unfeeling. Accessed 19 Jun. 2026.
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