as in cruelty
disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others
the gung ho heartlessness with which the secret police tortured prisoners was beyond belief
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 heartlessness
The lives of the two children in the story, aged fourteen and four, are portrayed as being as fleeting as the fireflies, and the story is an unsentimental and unflinching account with moments of both tenderness and heartlessness.
—
Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartlessness
Noun
-
One has simply grown so accustomed to his cruelty that, in an episode with so many other people acting on their worst impulses, Stephen stands out for momentarily acting on a good one.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Gray faces 29 charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of second-degree cruelty to children.—
La'Tasha Givens,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The sly blend of beauty and brutality is also apparent in the film’s sound design.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Feb. 2026
-
The protagonist, Frannie’s, story begins in a plantation in Jamaica, the brutality of which is chillingly evoked, but by moving much of the novel’s action to London, Sara Collins helps show just how tightly interwoven Black Caribbean history is with the history of the UK.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Heartlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartlessness. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
