unmerciful

adjective

ˌən-ˈmər-si-fəl How to pronounce unmerciful (audio)
Definition of unmercifulnext
1
as in excessive
going beyond a normal or acceptable limit in degree or amount she went into an unmerciful level of detail about her latest health problems

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings the critics were unmerciful in their assessments of the young actress's performance

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unmerciful The result was unmerciful but gloriously funny, especially when Christine Baranski‘s liberal Diane Lockhart hallucinated news reports about Trump keeping a potbellied pig in the White House map room. — Lynette Rice, Deadline, 20 May 2025 The drought is a source of mockery towards RCB, with opposition fans unmerciful in their scorn towards them and particularly Kohli. — Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025 Yet viewers admire Oz’s aptitude to survive, his unmerciful resolve. — Jason Parham, WIRED, 26 Dec. 2024 His take on Prince Philip is both humanizing and unmerciful, cutting to the bone of a man portrayed in contradictory terms — petulant yet statesmanlike, intensely ambitious yet ineffectual, relatable one minute and contemptible the next. — Will Harris, EW.com, 30 July 2024 The temperature climbed as more gas pushed and compressed itself into the small space, and the heat became unmerciful, exacerbated by the syrupy sensation of the increasingly dense atmosphere. — Rachel Lance, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2024 In Nazi ideology, descent was destiny—inescapable, unmerciful, and total. — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 20 July 2023 What hit viewers, then and now, with the strength of an unmerciful iceberg is how entirely uncynical this movie is. — Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 15 Dec. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unmerciful
  1. excessive
  2. ruthless
  3. extreme
  4. merciless
  5. insane
  6. stony
  7. steep
  8. extravagant
Adjective
  • Carrying five tight ends is excessive, so there probably won’t be room for Fidone unless Theo Johnson’s shoulder injury is more serious than initially believed.
    — Dan Duggan, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Interestingly, patient education level or excessive punctuation had little impact.
    — Paul Hsieh, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of excessive
Adjective
  • Once the ruthless commander of Bosnian Serb forces, Mladic oversaw the siege of Sarajevo, mass killings and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre that left more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys dead.
    — Jovana Gec, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter, like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
    — Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of ruthless
Adjective
  • China is also blocked from accessing ASML’s most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines.
    — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Intel is a slightly different case because it’s also caught up in the mania for chip stocks as spending on artificial intelligence creates extreme demand for semiconductors.
    — Norah Rami, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of extreme
Adjective
  • In Braun’s script, the merciless obstacle course of singlehood seems just absurd.
    — Faith Hill, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Regehr was relentless and merciless, and Oilers fans had to witness it over and over again.
    — Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 25 July 2026
Definition of merciless
Adjective
  • The new season has been absolutely insane through four episodes as the hunt to save Joe (Zoe Saldaña) from her kidnappers is underway.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 25 Aug. 2026
  • If Gigi is malintentioned and insane and a homewrecker, there’s no story, right?
    — Hilary Lewis, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of insane
Adjective
  • Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.
    — Emily Cox, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026
  • Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.
    — Natasha Bazika, Martha Stewart, 9 May 2026
Definition of stony
Adjective
  • That suggests the newcomer won’t have a steep learning curve.
    — Matt Barrows, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • After the church service, the crowd climbed up a steep hill and followed the hearses transporting the coffins to a nearby cemetery.
    — Evens Sanon, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of steep
Adjective
  • Despite all of this potential economic turmoil on the Canadian side, Carney still concluded that at the end of the day, the cost of acceding to Washington’s extravagant demands was higher than the cost of job losses and strain on a key industry.
    — Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Their journey leads them through an extravagant amusement park built on the grounds of a drug lord’s former estate.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of extravagant

Browse Nearby Words

unmentioned
unmerciful
unmercifully
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Cite this Entry

“Unmerciful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unmerciful. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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