1
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
a heartless boss who would fire people for missing work, even if they were sick as a dog
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cruel
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
his heartless whipping of runaway slaves virtually to the point of death shocked even other slave owners
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of heartless
My frustration only furthered my resolve to go full Nancy Drew and find out who committed this heartless crime.
—
Maggie MacIntosh, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2025
One is addled by paranoia and extremism, the other knows only heartless corporate speak.
—Jake Coyle, Boston Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Michelle is a heartless professional and sees this as a battle between the wits (herself) and the dimwits (her captors).
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
This vile, heartless remark is completely unacceptable—especially from someone entrusted with our children.
—Amy Delaura, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heartless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heartless
Adjective
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But he's 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.—
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As Iranians know well from 1979, ruthless contests tend to define revolutions.—
Adjective
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The forest had taught him that city dwellers could often be regulated by cruel and rather unpredictable codes.—
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That Maduro is a cruel dictator is clear; that Trump intends more than just his arrest (such as taking their oil) is equally clear.—
Adjective
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With a merciless 56-22 thumping of Oregon in the Peach Bowl, the Hoosiers punched their ticket to their first national championship game appearance in program history.—
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All the while, the president, his top advisers, and his public-affairs offices have pumped out rhetoric and imagery that celebrates the merciless, military-style pursuit of deportations.—
Adjective
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Between wading or boating into choppy surf, baking in the hot sun, and getting doused in salty spray, the elements are brutal on the human body and the gear meant to withstand them.—
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Phạm Lockwood also spoke with Huan Nguyen, the sole survivor of a massacre of a South Vietnamese family in Saigon, a brutal attack allegedly orchestrated by Capt.—
Adjective
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Without prosecutors empowered to bring charges against wrongdoers, judges willing to strike down overreach, legislators daring enough to demand investigations and change laws, and citizens outraged enough to protest, any revelations by journalists will fall on stony ground.—
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After that historic journey, NASA charted a new course toward Apophis, a stony metal-rich NEA that offers a sharp scientific contrast to Bennu's carbon-rich composition (and was once thought to pose a serious impact risk to Earth).—
Adjective
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Officials charged Damon Leanord of Pleasanton, Kansas, with interference with law enforcement, having a vicious dog at large and criminal desecration of a body in Linn County and abandonment of a corpse charges in Bates County, Missouri, after finding the child’s body at the bottom of a creek bed.—
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He was shocked in 2013 when he was struck by vicious bouts of vomiting.—
Adjective
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This league is a savage league.—
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The fifth-place finisher also reveals the inspiration for her savage jury question to Savannah.—
Cite this Entry
“Heartless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartless. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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