unmerciful

[uhn-mur-si-fuh l]

adjective

merciless; relentless; severe; cruel; pitiless.

unsparingly great, extreme, or excessive, as amounts: to talk for an unmerciful length of time.

Origin of unmerciful

First recorded in 1475–85; un-¹ + merciful

Related formsun·mer·ci·ful·ly, adverbun·mer·ci·ful·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for unmercifully

Historical Examples of unmercifully

It was received with great applause, and I was unmercifully chaffed.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2)
William Delisle Hay
They were swarming all over us, and how unmercifully they did guy us!
War from the Inside
Frederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
His whole weight hangs in them—they'll cut him unmercifully.
Disowned
Victor Endersby
It was no easy task, the full pails tugging most unmercifully at his arms.
Paul Prescott's Charge
Horatio Alger
You are just the kind of a man that women fool most unmercifully.
The Love Affairs of an Old Maid
Lilian Bell

British Dictionary definitions for unmercifully

unmerciful

adjective

showing no mercy; relentless

extreme or excessive

Derived Formsunmercifully, adverbunmercifulness, 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 unmercifully

unmerciful

adj.

late 15c., from un- (1) "not" + merciful. Related: Unmercifully.