1
as in excessive
going beyond a normal or acceptable limit in degree or amount
she went into an unmerciful level of detail about her latest health problems
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
the critics were unmerciful in their assessments of the young actress's performance
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 unmerciful
By that time, the internet blew up over Parker and Stone’s unmerciful comedic mockery of Trump.
—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
30 July 2025
The result was unmerciful but gloriously funny, especially when Christine Baranski‘s liberal Diane Lockhart hallucinated news reports about Trump keeping a potbellied pig in the White House map room.
—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
20 May 2025
The drought is a source of mockery towards RCB, with opposition fans unmerciful in their scorn towards them and particularly Kohli.
—
Tristan Lavalette,
Forbes,
20 Mar. 2025
Yet viewers admire Oz’s aptitude to survive, his unmerciful resolve.
—
Jason Parham,
WIRED,
26 Dec. 2024
His take on Prince Philip is both humanizing and unmerciful, cutting to the bone of a man portrayed in contradictory terms — petulant yet statesmanlike, intensely ambitious yet ineffectual, relatable one minute and contemptible the next.
—
Will Harris,
EW.com,
30 July 2024
In Nazi ideology, descent was destiny—inescapable, unmerciful, and total.
—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
20 July 2023
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
30 July 2025
The result was unmerciful but gloriously funny, especially when Christine Baranski‘s liberal Diane Lockhart hallucinated news reports about Trump keeping a potbellied pig in the White House map room.
—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
20 May 2025
The drought is a source of mockery towards RCB, with opposition fans unmerciful in their scorn towards them and particularly Kohli.
—
Tristan Lavalette,
Forbes,
20 Mar. 2025
Yet viewers admire Oz’s aptitude to survive, his unmerciful resolve.
—
Jason Parham,
WIRED,
26 Dec. 2024
His take on Prince Philip is both humanizing and unmerciful, cutting to the bone of a man portrayed in contradictory terms — petulant yet statesmanlike, intensely ambitious yet ineffectual, relatable one minute and contemptible the next.
—
Will Harris,
EW.com,
30 July 2024
In Nazi ideology, descent was destiny—inescapable, unmerciful, and total.
—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
20 July 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unmerciful
Adjective
-
Christensen suggests the state should instead focus on stripping back environmental regulations that make brush clearance and fire prevention costly, which would ensure state firefighters are not working excessive overtime and the state budget is not being stretched beyond its means.
-
Last September, the group published a 336-page report affirming that ABA should be included as a basic benefit under TRICARE, without the excessive administrative barriers that have disrupted treatment for children in military families.
Adjective
-
Canadian quartet Truck Violence have been sloshing together these subgenres in a ruthless manner for several years now, and their sophomore album and debut for the Flenser aims for even higher drops between those peaks and valleys.
-
There was relative peace for 11 years, until a second civil war erupted in 1983, when leaders in Khartoum imposed sharia (Islamic) law and accelerated repression of the southern Christian rebels, which ultimately allowed a ruthless military officer, Omar al-Bashir, to come to power in 1989.
Adjective
-
The extreme conditions are driven by a heat dome, a high pressure weather system that can trap heat for days, even weeks.
-
That day in Redding, temperatures surged to 109 degrees, triggering an extreme heat warning for the area.
Adjective
-
The poem that precedes it, the Iliad, is a cruel and beautiful work, the ultimate story of war; the Odyssey has its warlike passages, but its central energies seem almost commonplace beside the merciless fury of Achilles.
-
Humility is the posture; the standard is merciless.
Adjective
-
The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 8 laptop shows up ready to work with a snappy Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, insane 32GB of RAM, and spacious 2TB SSD in its (figurative) briefcase.
-
Eventually, though, Lestat breaks, coming clean about his tumultuous past with first lover Nicolas de Lenfent (Joseph Potter), who went insane after being attacked by Armand (Assad Zaman) in Paris in the late 18th century.
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.
-
Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.
Adjective
-
Peterson would fulfill steep guard needs for the Jazz.
-
In this kind of unpredictable environment, putting money on the line can lead to either significant gains or steep losses for bettors.
Adjective
-
The 12 palatial pool villas are even more extravagant, with infinity pools, outdoor showers, and ethereal canopy beds.
-
Fourth of July weekend is approaching fast, and Central Floridians can find a number of extravagant fireworks displays and special events to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
Cite this Entry
“Unmerciful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unmerciful. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
