Crossword Dictionary
Pitiless
pitiless, remorseless, ruthless, unpitying - a
without mercy or pity; "an act of ruthless ferocity"; "a monster of remorseless cruelty"
Synonyms
affectless, callous, case-hardened, cold-blooded, compassionless, desensitized
Examples
They said he is a pitiless , cold - blooded fellow , with no geniality in him.
Faces were stripped of pretence by the pitiless bombardment of harsh reality.
It was plain that the pitiless man made the boy suffer. The boy was pitiable.
Etymology
"merciless, without pity, hard-hearted," early 15c., piteles, from pity (n.) + -less. Related: Pitilessly; pitilessness.
pity (n.)
mid-13c., pite, "compassion, kindness, generosity of spirit;" c. 1300 "disposition to mercy, quality of being merciful," also "a feeling of sympathy and compassion aroused by the sorrow or suffering of another," from Old French pite, pitet "pity, mercy, compassion, care, tenderness; pitiful state, wretched condition" (11c., Modern French pitié), from Latin pietatem (nominative pietas) "piety, loyalty, duty" (see piety). Replaced Old English mildheortness, literally "mild-heartness," itself a loan-translation of Latin misericordia.
-less
word-forming element meaning "lacking, cannot be, does not," from Old English -leas, from leas "free (from), devoid (of), false, feigned," from Proto-Germanic *lausaz (cognates: Dutch -loos, German -los "-less," Old Norse lauss "loose, free, vacant, dissolute," Middle Dutch los, German los "loose, free," Gothic laus "empty, vain"), from PIE root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart." Related to loose and lease.