Meanings
comparative more unsparing · superlative most unsparing
- Without sparing; liberal; profuse; thorough.
1 more example
Only when one has seen a Control Office at first-hand does one realise the vast amount of unsparing but largely unsung work that is behind the eventual publication, perhaps, of a paragraph in this journal's "Motive Power Miscellany" recording the appearance, within hours of the complete blockage of a main line, of many of its trains, passenger and freight, on routes quite foreign to them; and of effective emergency services either side of the disaster area.
1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 133 - Pulling no punches; brutal as opposed to politic.
1 more example
[Giovanni's Room] is clearly written out of interior torment, and is an unsparing account of a man fighting against himself. It is certainly not a pleasant book, and David, the narrator, is not "nice" […] but even in its negative ending, it makes a strong statement in favor of self knowledge and accepting one's sexuality.
1980 February 9, Andrea Loewenstein, “James Baldwin and His Critics”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 28, page 10
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivevery generous
adjectivenot forbearing; ruthless
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishsparing
- Englishunsparing
Translations
Māori tōtōpū
- tōtōpūthorough
Cite this entry
unsparing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsparing
“unsparing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsparing. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unsparing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unsparing.
Source: unsparing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.