VocabauraVOCABAURA

merciless

adjective

Simple meaning

Having or showing no mercy.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mursuhluhs

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɝsələs

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Having or showing no mercy

  2. Showing no mercy; cruel and pitiless.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: Having or showing no mercy

Used this way, merciless is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • unmerciful , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use merciless

  • “The merciless enemy.”adjective

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “merciless”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

merciless sunmerciless severitymerciless strugglemerciless parliamentmerciless enemymerciless criticismmerciless handsmerciless exploitation

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • mercifuladjectiveDerived adjective

    Showing or giving mercy.

  • mercilesslyadverbDerived adverb

    Without pity.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: having or showing no mercy

unmercifulRarepitiless

Antonyms

Sense: having or showing no mercy

merciful

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “merciless” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.