thankless

T1H4A1N1K5L1E1S1S1

adjective

Not appreciated or rewarded.

Similar
ungratefulunthankfulunappreciativeunappreciatedungratifyingunrewarding
Opposite
thankful
OriginMiddle English thankles →
UncommonScrabble 16
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectivethankless (not comparable)
  1. not comparableNot appreciated or rewarded.

    One indispensable and thankless Unesco task is organizing tsunami warnings systems and pushing for tsunami education on risky shores around the world.

    2011 November 11, Andrew C. Revkin, “Dot Connection: From Palestinian Politics to Tsunami Warnings”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Nov 2011
    1 more example

    In a raucous atmosphere, it was an unforgiving and physical contest from the start. Grant Hanley conceded the first free-kick within the opening 20 seconds, setting the tone for a busy and thankless evening for Serbian referee Milorad Mazic.

    2014 November 14, Stephen Halliday, “Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero”, in The Scotsman, archived from the original on 07 May 2016
  2. not comparableUngrateful or unappreciative.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
thankful

adjectivenot feeling or showing gratitude

Similar
ungratefulunthankfulunappreciative

adjectivenot likely to be rewarded

Similar
unappreciatedungratifyingunrewarding
Also see
unappreciatedunappreciativeungratefulungratifyingunrewardingunthankful

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishthankles
  2. Englishthankless

From Middle English thankles, equivalent to thank + -less.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian неблагода́рен
  • неблагода́рен (neblagodáren)unappreciated
Catalan ingrat
  • ingratunappreciated
Danish utaknemmelig
  • utaknemmeligunappreciated
Dutch ondankbaar
  • ondankbaarunappreciated
Finnish epäkiitollinen
  • epäkiitollinenunappreciated
German undankbar
  • undankbarunappreciated
Hungarian hálátlan
  • hálátlanunappreciated
Icelandic vanþakklátur
  • vanþakkláturunappreciated
Norwegian Bokmål utakknemlig
  • utakknemligunappreciated
Polish niewdzięczny
  • niewdzięcznyunappreciated
Russian неблагода́рный
  • неблагода́рный (neblagodárnyj)unappreciated
Spanish ingrato, despreciado
  • ingratounappreciated
  • despreciadounappreciated
Swedish otacksam
  • otacksamunappreciated
Cite this entry
APA

thankless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thankless

MLA

“thankless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thankless. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thankless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thankless.

Source: thankless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.