as in merciless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
an office supervisor with a ruthless disregard for others' feelings
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Recent Examples of ruthless
Mendonça was born in 1968, in the early years of a ruthless military dictatorship—a time when cinema, like much else, was harshly constrained.
—
Stephania Taladrid, New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2026
In Season 2, Pine is drawn into a deadly Colombian drama involving a new ruthless arms dealer posing as a humanitarian, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), and Roxana (Camila Morrone), an American businesswoman.
—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 1 Feb. 2026
While there is always room for class and facilitating a star’s wishes (whatever those might be), but Horst needs to be ruthless.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2026
Slop is boring, repetitive, and often inexpensive to make — the natural evolution of an internet built for scale and ruthless optimization.
—Mia Sato, The Verge, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ruthless
Stephania Taladrid, New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2026
In Season 2, Pine is drawn into a deadly Colombian drama involving a new ruthless arms dealer posing as a humanitarian, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), and Roxana (Camila Morrone), an American businesswoman.
—Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 1 Feb. 2026
While there is always room for class and facilitating a star’s wishes (whatever those might be), but Horst needs to be ruthless.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2026
Slop is boring, repetitive, and often inexpensive to make — the natural evolution of an internet built for scale and ruthless optimization.
—Mia Sato, The Verge, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ruthless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruthless
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
“Ruthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruthless. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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