Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having no compassion or pity; merciless: ruthless cruelty; ruthless opportunism.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having no ruth or pity; cruel; pitiless; barbarous; insensible to the miseries of others.
- Unmodified or unrestrained by pity; marked by unfaltering rigor; relentless; merciless: as, ruthless severity.
- Synonyms Unpitying, hard-hearted.
Wiktionary
- adj. Without pity or compassion; cruel, pitiless.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. without mercy or pity
Etymologies
- ruth + -less (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Over Microsoft's formative years when they redefined the term ruthless, my friends and I worked for several startup and small companies that were crushed by Microsoft which they then bought for pennies on the dollar.”
“David Petraeus, the coalition's commander in Afghanistan, issued a rare apology Wednesday for a helicopter strike that killed nine children, hours after Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the allies for launching what he called a "ruthless attack.”
The Wall Street Journal: Coalition Apologizes for Deaths of Afghan Children
“President Hamid Karzai swiftly condemned what he described as a "ruthless act of terror to target innocent people who had gathered for a religious ceremony," saying the bombing exposed the "vile and vicious nature of the enemy who do not want to see the Muslim people of Afghanistan to perform even their Islamic rituals.”
The Wall Street Journal: Afghan Bombing Kills at Least 19, Including Lawmaker
“He said the world should show the same determination in dealing with Iran, which he described as a ruthless dictatorship.”
Voice of America: Libyan Unrest Tops Agenda at Israeli Cabinet Meeting
“The previous death toll for children was 307, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said on December 2, denouncing what she called "ruthless repression" by Syrian forces.”
“Wales capain, who turns 23 on Wednesday, said: The word 'ruthless' has been drilled into the boys for the last few weeks.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“In 2009 Biller countersued, accusing Toyota of violating racketeering laws in what he termed a ruthless conspiracy and relentless effort to prevent evidence of its vehicles”
“Somewhat reminiscent of his father's trademark bushy moustache, Earnhardt enters 2010 with a Paul Bunyan-esque beard ( "just got tired of shaving") and an Intimidator-esque vow to be "ruthless from the first lap to the last" by being more aggressive and proactive making sure his car is capable of winning.”
Return to form for Earnhardt Jr. could rev NASCAR's fortunes
“Where he's most ruthless is when you see him dragging three people behind him that he went out and was hired to hunt down as a bounty hunter," Brolin says.”
“Tony Benn, a stalwart defender of the gains of the working class, is described as a "ruthless destroyer", while Margaret Thatcher is "positively pragmatic" compared with the current government.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ruthless’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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AFET - diplomacy
broker a peace ac..., client state, deadlocked peace ..., embassy, freeze, goodwill ambassador, hinterland, interfere in dome..., intervene personally, maintain technica..., mediation, no business as usual and 670 more...
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macabre
words associated with the macabre & horror.
( open list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.co...ghastly, grisly, culeus, silly, gruesome, horrid, morbid, angelic, shocking, hideous, ghoulish, frightful and 136 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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-more or -less
Words ending with *more or *less, more or less. Many of theses terms also appear on the list The -less Said, which see.
schemaless, jobless, endless, useless, unless, guileless, wireless, regardless, homeless, nevertheless, countless, doubtless and 434 more...
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Lesson 9
dumbfounded, ensue, era, flourish, garrison, grievous', hoard, inundate, invincible, nomad, placate, principal and 3 more...
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Wordly Wise Vocab 9
dumbfound, ensue, era, flourish, garrison, grievous, hoard, inundate, invincible, nomad, placate, principal and 3 more...
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Vocabtech9e
sacrifice, ruthless, recede, principal, nomad, invincible, inundate, hoard, grievous, garrison, flourish, era and 3 more...
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Violence
sucker punch, punch, bunch of fives, haymaker, bare-knuckle, punch-drunk, brawler, scrapper, hellkite, street fighter, gamecock, powerhouse and 30 more...
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Character Traits
This is a list of adjectives used by writers to help develop characters.
guileful, obsessed, brilliant, bright, naive, streetwise, streetsmart, ruthless, cruel, foolish, obsessive, introspective and 19 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
Odd Anagrams
Sets of anagrams that have contrasting or related meanings.
casual, causal, parental, paternal, prenatal, atoners, senator, treason, listen, silent, dictionary, indicatory and 110 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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English
rewarding, wit, landmark, core, soar, drop, plunge, plummet, dive, level off, rocket, peak and 110 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ruthless.
alejinha act without thinking about the consecuences. Nov 15, 2010
johnmperry without ruth
Sep 6, 2008
bilby Also: without Ruth. Sep 6, 2008