as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
gave the beggar in the street a pitiless look and kept on walking
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Recent Examples of pitiless
Rather than confronting Scrooge with things beyond his human comprehension — immutable calm, boundless generosity, pitiless void — all three spirits simply end up castigating him.
—
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
The margin of error, even on the outside of the CFL, UFL and NFL, is pitiless.
—Dan Robson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2025
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiless
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
The margin of error, even on the outside of the CFL, UFL and NFL, is pitiless.
—Dan Robson, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025
The film’s only real villain is Al Pacino, doing a Colonel Sanders accent as Richard’s father M.L. Hall, whose pitiless rigidity stands in for capitalism as a whole.
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2025
Each failure rekindled the gravitational pull of an existential, pitiless struggle.
—Hussein Agha, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pitiless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pitiless
Adjective
-
Figure skating is ruthless that way.—
Marcus Thompson II,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Pursued by both the FBI and a ruthless crime boss (Bening), Lucky must fight for her life — and a way out.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Murphy is not acting alone, however, as he’s been assigned to the journey out of a labor camp run by a merciless, tobacco-spitting boss (Russell Crowe) — and some in his merriless band turn out to be savvier, and more malicious, than others.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
29 Jan. 2026
-
But the Warriors, driven by the merciless ticking clock of Curry’s career, are desperate.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Across this stony landscape, light sometimes falls.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Forgotten animal pens, decaying cages and stony backdrops now sit in various states of abandonment.—
Todd Martens,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pitiless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pitiless. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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