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View synonyms for merciless

merciless

[ mur-si-lis ]

adjective

  1. without mercy; having or showing no mercy; pitiless; cruel:

    a merciless critic.

    Synonyms: unsympathetic, inexorable, fell, unrelenting, relentless, hard

    Antonyms: compassionate



merciless

/ ˈmɜːsɪlɪs /

adjective

  1. without mercy; pitiless, cruel, or heartless
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈmercilessness, noun
  • ˈmercilessly, adverb
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Other Words From

  • mer·ci·less·ly adverb
  • mer·ci·less·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of merciless1

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English mercyles; mercy, -less
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Example Sentences

His voice was a merciless whip on my back, seeking to whip me like a vile sinner.

The officers are merciless and wipe out any trace of cooked food.

Each remembrance was a merciless sting that I inflicted on myself, especially when I learned that my father had traveled to Cuba for the occasion after several years away during this time of the year.

The second sentence seemingly negates the second point to some degree, but more than anything, I think it’s an indictment of how merciless this industry can be.

They saw a war with no end, a merciless and destructive juggernaut that was upending communities, families and individual lives — to little purpose.

If mercy is not preached by a national figure we take seriously, our battles over policy power will grow ever more merciless.

Dovlatov was a merciless opponent of oppression, whose chief weapon was one dictatorships are rarely good at facing: humor.

The Soviet regime was merciless to its opponents, and millions suffered and perished in its labor camp.

The biggest con: Washington is a merciless meat-grinder of a place that ends as many political careers as it launches.

“Life was merciless, then briefly miraculous,” Phillips writes toward the end of Quiet Dell.

Long before reason found the answer, instinct—swift, merciless interpreter—told him plainly.

It was merciless and terrible—so slightly, faintly indicated, yet so overwhelmingly convincing.

"And if it is not brought home to you—the fact remains the same," said Mr. Carr, in his merciless truth.

The merciless commissioners had ordered her to be incarcerated in a cell which no beam of light could penetrate.

Her husband is a fugitive, pursued by human blood-hounds more merciless than the brute.

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