unfeeling

[uhn-fee-ling]

See more synonyms for unfeeling on Thesaurus.com

adjective

not feeling; devoid of feeling; insensible or insensate.
unsympathetic; callous: an intelligent but unfeeling man.

Origin of unfeeling

before 1000; Middle English; Old English unfelende. See un-¹, feel, -ing²

Related formsun·feel·ing·ly, adverbun·feel·ing·ness, noun

Synonyms for unfeeling

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1. numb. 2. hardhearted. See hard.

Antonyms for unfeeling

2. sympathetic.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for unfeeling

apathetic, asleep, brutal, callous, cantankerous, churlish, cold, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, crotchety, cruel, exacting, hard, hardened, heartless, icy, inanimate, inhuman, insensate, insensible

Examples from the Web for unfeeling

Contemporary Examples of unfeeling

A number of clearly partisan studies have suggested that cats are unfeeling and sociopathic.
Sorry, Internet: Pope Francis Didn't Open Paradise to Pets
Candida Moss
December 14, 2014
Question those taking on the mantle of victimhood and you are immediately cast as some kind of aggressive, unfeeling oppressor.
What the U-VA Rape Case Tells Us About a Victim Culture Gone Mad
Lizzie Crocker
December 6, 2014
Romney spoke about it in a way that struck Prouty as disingenuous and unfeeling, and he got mad.
Scott Prouty, as Compared to Sam Wurzelbacher
Michael Tomasky
March 14, 2013

Historical Examples of unfeeling

He is not so ungenerous a man as you think him: nor has he an unfeeling heart.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
I am better there, it is unfeeling in me to be here, when I can do the least thing there.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
He was by no means an unfeeling man, but he had his duty to do.
The Law-Breakers
Ridgwell Cullum
Of course it would be indelicate, if not unfeeling, to ask her about it.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844
Various
And you are unfeeling, besides, for you remind me that I am very hungry.
The Rise of Roscoe Paine
Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for unfeeling

unfeeling

adjective

without sympathy; callous
without physical feeling or sensation

Derived Formsunfeelingly, adverbunfeelingness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for unfeeling

adj.

late Old English, "having no sensation," from un- (1) "not" + feeling (see feel (v.)). Meaning "devoid of kindly or tender feelings" is recorded from 1590s. Related: Unfeelingly.