Word Study
ruthless
CIDE DICTIONARY
ruthless, a.
Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless. [1913 Webster]
"Their rage the hostile bands restrain,
All but the ruthless monarch of the main." [1913 Webster]
All but the ruthless monarch of the main." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
ruthless, adj. having no pity or compassion.
Derivative
ruthlessly adv. ruthlessness n.
Etymology
ME, f. ruth compassion f. RUE(1)
THESAURUS
ruthless
Draconian, Tartarean, animal, anthropophagous, atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, bowelless, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, callous, cannibalistic, cruel, cruel-hearted, demoniac, demoniacal, devilish, diabolic, dog-eat-dog, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, flinty, hard, harsh, heartless, hellish, implacable, inclement, inexorable, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, kill-crazy, malign, malignant, mean, merciless, mortal, murderous, noncivilized, pitiless, relentless, remorseless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, severe, sharkish, slavering, subhuman, tameless, tough, truculent, unappeasable, unchristian, uncivilized, uncompassionate, uncompassioned, unfeeling, unflinching, unforgiving, ungentle, unhuman, unmerciful, unpitiful, unpitying, unrelenting, unremorseful, unsympathetic, unsympathizing, untamed, unyielding, vicious, wild, without mercy, wolfishROGET THESAURUS
ruthless
Malevolence
N malevolence, bad intent, bad intention, unkindness, diskindness, ill nature, ill will, ill blood, bad blood, enmity, hate, malignity, malice, malice prepense, maliciousness, spite, despite, resentment, uncharitableness, incompassionateness, gall, venom, rancor, rankling, virulence, mordacity, acerbity churlishness, hardness of heart, heart of stone, obduracy, cruelty, cruelness, brutality, savagery, ferity, ferocity, barbarity, inhumanity, immanity, truculence, ruffianism, evil eye, cloven foot, torture, vivisection, ill turn, bad turn, affront, outrage, atrocity, ill usage, intolerance, persecution, tender mercies, unkindest cut of all, malevolent, unbenevolent, unbenign, ill-disposed, ill-intentioned, ill-natured, ill-conditioned, ill-contrived, evil-minded, evil- disposed, black-browed, malicious, malign, malignant, rancorous, despiteful, spiteful, mordacious, caustic, bitter, envenomed, acrimonious, virulent, unamiable, uncharitable, maleficent, venomous, grinding, galling, harsh, disobliging, unkind, unfriendly, ungracious, inofficious, invidious, uncandid, churlish, surly, sullen, cold, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, black-hearted, hard-hearted, flint-hearted, marble-hearted, stony-hearted, hard of heart, unnatural, ruthless, relentless, cruel, brutal, brutish, savage, savage as a bear, savage as a tiger, ferine, ferocious, inhuman, barbarous, barbaric, semibarbaric, fell, untamed, tameless, truculent, incendiary, bloodthirsty, atrocious, bloodyminded, fiendish, fiendlike, demoniacal, diabolic, diabolical, devilish, infernal, hellish, Satanic, Tartaran, malevolently, with bad intent, cruel as death, hard unkindness' alter'd eye, homo homini lupus, mala mens, malus animus, rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind, sharp-tooth'd unkindness.Pitilessness
N pitilessness, inclemency, severity, malevolence, pitiless, merciless, ruthless, bowelless, unpitying, unmerciful, inclement, grim-faced, grim-visaged, incompassionate, uncompassionate, inexorable, harsh, unrelenting.Revenge
N revenge, revengement, vengeance, avengement, avengeance, sweet revenge, vendetta, death feud, blood for blood retaliation, day of reckoning, rancor, vindictiveness, implacability, malevolence, ruthlessness, avenger, vindicator, Nemesis, Eumenides, revengeful, vengeful, vindictive, rancorous, pitiless, ruthless, rigorous, avenging, unforgiving, unrelenting, inexorable, stony-hearted, implacable, relentless, remorseless, aeternum servans sub pectore vulnus, rankling, immitigable, manet ciratrix, manet alid mente repostum, dies irae dies illa, in high vengeance there is noble scorn, inhumanum verbum est ultio, malevolus animus abditos dentes habet, now infidel I have thee on the hip.For further exploring for "ruthless" in Webster Dictionary Online