Meanings
comparative more merciless · superlative most merciless
- Showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.
The sun is merciless today, so please take care of yourself.
1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System1 more example
But the ruthless cleaning up of those streets and merciless treatment of gang members have triggered outrage and concern among human rights organizations, which have condemned Cecot as inhumane and unacceptable.
2024 November 6, David Culver, Abel Alvarado, Evelio Contreras and Rachel Clarke, “Exclusive: Locking eyes with mass murderers in El Salvador”, in CNNSynonyms: unmerciful, cruel, pitiless, ruthless, barbarous, bowelless, brutal, compassionless · Antonyms: merciful
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveShowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving or showing no mercy
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishmerciles
- Englishmerciless
From Middle English merciles, mercyles, equivalent to mercy + -less.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀνελεήμων, ἄσπλαγχνος
- ἀνελεήμων (aneleḗmōn)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- ἄσπλαγχνος (ásplankhnos)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Bulgarian безмилостен
- безмилостен (bezmilosten)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Catalan despietat
- despietatshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Chinese Mandarin 殘忍 /残忍, 無情 /无情
- 殘忍 /残忍 (cánrěn)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- 無情 /无情 (wúqíng)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Czech nemilosrdný
- nemilosrdnýshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Danish nådesløs
- nådesløsshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Dutch genadeloos
- genadeloosshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Finnish armoton, säälimätön
- armotonshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- säälimätönshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
French impitoyable
- impitoyableshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
German gnadenlos
- gnadenlosshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Greek αλύπητος
- αλύπητος (alýpitos)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Hindi निर्दय, निष्ठुर
- निर्दय (nirday)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- निष्ठुर (niṣṭhur)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- निर्दयी (nirdayī)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- क्रूर (krūr)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Hungarian kegyetlen, könyörtelen
- kegyetlenshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- könyörtelenshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Indonesian sadis
- sadisshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Irish éadrócaireach, neamhthrócaireach
- éadrócaireachshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- neamhthrócaireachshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Italian spietato, crudele
- spietatoshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- crudeleshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Japanese 無慈悲, 容赦ない
- 無慈悲 (mujihi)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- 容赦ない (yōsha nai)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Korean 무자비하다
- 무자비하다 (mujabihada)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Latin immisericors
- immisericorsshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Lithuanian negailestingas
- negailestingasshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Norwegian Bokmål nådeløs
- nådeløsshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Polish bezlitosny, niemiłosierny
- bezlitosnyshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- niemiłosiernyshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- bezpardonowyshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- bezwzględnyshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Portuguese impiedoso, imisericordioso
- impiedososhowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- imisericordiososhowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Russian беспоща́дный, безжа́лостный
- беспоща́дный (bespoščádnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- безжа́лостный (bezžálostnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Scottish Gaelic mì-chneasta
- mì-chneastashowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Spanish inmisericorde
- inmisericordeshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Swedish skoningslös, obarmhärtig
- skoningslösshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- obarmhärtigshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Tagalog walang awa
- walang awashowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Turkish acımasız
- acımasızshowing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Ukrainian безжалісний, безжальний
- безжалісний (bezžalisnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- безжальний (bezžalʹnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- безпощадний (bezpoščadnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
- немилосе́рдний (nemylosérdnyj)showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
merciless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/merciless
“merciless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/merciless. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “merciless,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/merciless.
Source: merciless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.