Meanings
comparative more pitiless · superlative most pitiless
- Having, or showing, no pity; merciless, ruthless.
O God! can I not save / One from the pitiless wave? / Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?
1849 March 31, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and Miscellanies), New York, N.Y.: J. S. Redfield, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 401 more example
Her clothes were torn to mere shreds and tatters, and through the pitiful rags her once white and tender skin showed raw and bleeding from contact with the thousand pitiless thorns and brambles through which she had been dragged.
1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Fifty Frightful Men”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 319Synonyms: compassionless, hardhearted, unsympathetic, barbarous, bowelless, brutal, compassionless, cruel
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving, or showing, no pity; merciless, ruthless.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivewithout mercy or pity
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishpiteeles
- Englishpitiless
From Middle English piteeles, pyteles; equivalent to pity + -less.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄνοικτος
- ἄνοικτος (ánoiktos)having no pity
Bulgarian безмилостен
- безмилостен (bezmilosten)having no pity
Czech nelítostný, nemilosrdný
- nelítostnýhaving no pity
- nemilosrdnýhaving no pity
Dutch meedogenloos, onbarmhartig
- meedogenlooshaving no pity
- onbarmhartighaving no pity
Esperanto senkompata
- senkompatahaving no pity
Finnish armoton
- armotonhaving no pity
French impitoyable
- impitoyablehaving no pity
German erbarmungslos, unbarmherzig
- erbarmungsloshaving no pity
- unbarmherzighaving no pity
Greek αλύπητος
- αλύπητος (alýpitos)having no pity
Irish cruachroíoch
- cruachroíochhaving no pity
Italian spietato, crudele
- spietatohaving no pity
- crudelehaving no pity
- impietosohaving no pity
Latin torvus, immisericors
- torvushaving no pity
- immisericorshaving no pity
Polish bezlitosny, niemiłosierny
- bezlitosnyhaving no pity
- niemiłosiernyhaving no pity
Portuguese impiedoso, desapiedado
- impiedosohaving no pity
- desapiedadohaving no pity
Russian безжа́лостный, немилосе́рдный
- безжа́лостный (bezžálostnyj)having no pity
- немилосе́рдный (nemilosérdnyj)having no pity
Scottish Gaelic neo-thruacanta, mì-chneasta
- neo-thruacantahaving no pity
- mì-chneastahaving no pity
Slovak neľútostný
- neľútostnýhaving no pity
Spanish despiadado
- despiadadohaving no pity
Swedish skoningslös
- skoningslöshaving no pity
Ukrainian безжа́лісний, безжа́льний
- безжа́лісний (bezžálisnyj)having no pity
- безжа́льний (bezžálʹnyj)having no pity
- немилосе́рдний (nemylosérdnyj)having no pity
Cite this entry
pitiless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitiless
“pitiless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitiless. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pitiless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pitiless.
Source: pitiless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.