ruthless

[rooth-lis]

adjective

1. without pity or compassion; cruel; merciless.

   a ruthless tyrant.

   Synonyms: relentless, adamant, unrelenting

ruthless

/ ˈruːθlɪs /

adjective

1. feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted

Other Word Forms

• ruthlessly adverb
• ruthlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ruthless¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; ruth + -less

Synonym Study

See cruel.

Example Sentences

"They need to remember they played a lot of good cricket in this game, and remember that when you get ahead be ruthless and smart," Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports.

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New Zealand further demonstrated their ruthless nature when Love burst through an attempted Carre tackle to sprint over.

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Stokes often says he does not like the word "ruthless".

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When Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, the drive against religion became more systematic and ruthless.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“My pirate crew were a ruthless, bowlegged lot, but they taught me all a fellow needs to know about thievery. Let me have a crack at stealing it.”

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Related Words

• barbarous 
• brutal 
• callous 
• cold-blooded 
• cruel 
• cutthroat 
• ferocious 
• fierce 
• harsh 
• inhuman 
• malevolent 
• merciless 
• rancorous 
• relentless 
• sadistic 
• savage 
• unforgiving 
• unrelenting 
• unyielding 
• vicious