RUTHLESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ruthless mean? 

• RUTHLESS (adjective)
  The adjective RUTHLESS has 1 sense:

1. without mercy or pity

  Familiarity information: RUTHLESS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RUTHLESS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without mercy or pity

Synonyms:

pitiless; remorseless; ruthless; unpitying

Context example:

a monster of remorseless cruelty

Similar:

merciless; unmerciful (having or showing no mercy)

Derivation:

ruthlessness (mercilessness characterized by a lack of pity)

ruthlessness (feelings of extreme heartlessness)

 Context examples 

I rose up suddenly, terror-struck at the solitude which so ruthless a judge haunted,—at the silence which so awful a voice filled.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Gorgiano had his private reasons for vengeance, but in any case we knew how ruthless, cunning, and untiring he could be.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The Parthenon came out in its next number patting itself on the back for the stir it had made, sneering at Sir John Value, and exploiting Brissenden's death with ruthless commercialism.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I know it, for now and then I hear a far-away muffled sound as of mattock and spade, and, whatever it is, it must be the end of some ruthless villainy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I denounced myself as a remorseless brute and a ruthless beast.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

June-born Cancers experienced this type of unfairness from a romantic or business partner, competitors, or bosses during 2018, and currently, it is those Cancers born on or near July 3-4 who are being similarly dominated by a partner in love or business or from competitors in a near-ruthless way.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fierce Sir Hugh Calverley, with his yellow mane, and the rugged Sir Robert Knolles, with their war-hardened and veteran companies of English bowmen, headed the long column; while behind them came the turbulent bands of the Bastard of Breteuil, Nandon de Bagerant, one-eyed Camus, Black Ortingo, La Nuit and others whose very names seem to smack of hard hands and ruthless deeds.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His eye, as I have often said, was a black eye: it had now a tawny, nay, a bloody light in its gloom; and his face flushed—olive cheek and hueless forehead received a glow as from spreading, ascending heart-fire: and he stirred, lifted his strong arm—he could have struck Mason, dashed him on the church-floor, shocked by ruthless blow the breath from his body—but Mason shrank away, and cried faintly, Good God!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)