merciless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- mercilessly adverb
- mercilessness noun
Etymology
Origin of merciless
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English mercyles; mercy, -less
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Contemporaries regarded this merciless battle as “a second Agincourt,” akin to Henry V’s victory, against the odds, in 1415.
Barely two years in, Maye’s the shiniest star in a merciless sports metropolis—and he’s one Sunday victory from all the local Bradys naming their future firstborns Drake.
A moist, merciless heat engulfed us, and the strangling smell forced its way down my nose and throat.
From Literature
The journalist James Agee’s merciless portraits of his subjects remind Mr. Frazier of “those old-time operations that were done on a kitchen table without anesthetic.”
They were all failed attempts to impose western civilization on the merciless, untamable Arctic.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
