pitiless
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See cruel.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pitiless
First recorded in 1375–1425, pitiless is from the late Middle English word piteles. See pity, -less
Explanation
Pitiless means "without mercy" or "cruel." Movie critics are often described as pitiless, because if they hate a film, they don't hold back or consider the feelings of the people who poured their hearts into making it. The root word of the adjective pitiless is pity. If someone lacks all sympathy or tenderness, you can describe them as pitiless. People who are annoyed that they have to step out of the way of homeless people who huddle against buildings in winter are probably pitiless — they just don't care about the plights of others. How can you tell if your friends are pitiless? They seem bored or annoyed when you are upset about something.
Vocabulary lists containing pitiless
Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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"The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats
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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.
“There was a pitiless certainty about her,” Harry realizes by the novel’s end, when the worst has happened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Before Standard Oil became “the most gigantic, the most cruel, impudent, pitiless, and grasping monopoly which ever fastened upon a community,” it was a start-up.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
Philosopher Timothy McGrew then observes that Mr. Dawkins “has famously said that ‘the universe has at bottom just those properties one would expect if there were no design, no purpose, only blind pitiless indifference.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
As Ambrose Pierce wrote, “Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless and the grave, blind as a stone and irrational as a headless man.”
From Salon ● May 17, 2025
Apparently, Raizel wasn’t entirely pitiless, because she scooted her chair in so I could reach the seat next to her.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
