ruthless
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See cruel.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ruthless
Explanation
Ruthless means showing no mercy or compassion. If you really want to cut down on the clutter in your apartment, you can't be sentimental about keepsakes. You have to be ruthless and throw out everything that's not absolutely essential. If you're ruthless, you're the polar opposite of Mother Theresa. You get called heartless and cold-blooded. That's one of the reasons the word crops up so often to describe dictators and tyrants, though it can also apply to other personality types — like corporate raiders and colleagues so success-driven that they'll gladly steamroll anyone to get ahead. It finds its way into milder contexts, too: Just be ruthless and rip off the Band-Aid already!
Vocabulary lists containing ruthless
Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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Negative Words to Describe a Person
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The Things They Carried
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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.
He’s refreshingly optimistic about challenging music in streaming’s ruthless economy.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2026
The Black Caps played hard-nosed, disciplined and ruthless Test cricket, giving a lesson to England.
From BBC • Jun. 29, 2026
You could call that ruthless economic warfare, or you could call it capitalist competition, an arena where the Chinese have excelled.
From Salon • Jun. 21, 2026
The ruthless machinations of Gilded Age robber barons are transposed to New York’s hotels and banquet rooms—a story of love marketed to the highest bidder.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
Far away from home, his heart hardened and ruthless, he knew they were thinking of him.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
