heartless

English

Etymology

From Middle English hertles, herteles, from Old English heortlēas (“without courage; listless”), equivalent to heart +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹt.lɪs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːt.lɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tlɪs
• Hyphenation: heart‧less

Adjective

heartless (comparative more heartless, superlative most heartless)

2. Without feeling, emotion, or concern for others; uncaring; cruel. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: cold-hearted, uncordial

   Antonyms: hearty, heartful; cordial

   Coordinate terms: soulless, thoughtless, mindless

   His heartless actions and cold manner left her saddened and feeling alone.

   • 1982 August 14, Michael Bronski, “If You Hated The Book You'll Loathe The Movie”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 5, page 11:

     The world is a dangerous, violent place […] and the only true refuge from this heartless world is the family.

   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in The A.V. Club‎:

     Mr. Burns is similarly perfectly cast as a heartless capitalist willing to do anything for a quick buck, even if it means endangering the lives of those around him and Marge elegantly rounds out the main cast as a good, pure-hearted and overly indulgent woman who sees the big, good heart (literally and metaphorically) of a monstrous man-brute.

4. Without a physical heart. [from 15th c.]

   Synonym: acardiac

6. (now rare) Listless, unenthusiastic. [from 14th c.]

   Antonyms: hearty, heartful

   Coordinate term: halfhearted

   Near-synonyms: spiritless, unhearty

8. (obsolete) Without courage; fearful, cowardly. [10th–19th c.]

   Synonyms: spineless, gutless, unhearty; see also Thesaurus:cowardly

   Antonym: dauntless

   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.7:

     Cecilia then, though almost heartless, resolved upon talking with Mr. Harrel himself […].

Derived terms

• heartlessly
• heartlessness

Translations

without feeling

Bulgarian: безсърдечен (bg) (bezsǎrdečen) Chinese: Mandarin: 殘忍／残忍 (zh) (cánrěn), 無情／无情 (zh) (wúqíng) Danish: hjerteløs Esperanto: senkora Finnish: sydämetön (fi) French: sans-cœur (fr) German: herzlos (de) Greek: άκαρδος (el) (ákardos) Ancient: ἄστοργος (ástorgos) Hungarian: szívtelen (hu) Japanese: 無情 (ja) (むじょう, mujō) Latin: insensibilis, socors Macedonian: бездушен (bezdušen) Norwegian: hjerteløs Persian: بیدل (fa) (bidel) Polish: bez serca (pl), bezduszny (pl), bezserdeczny (dated) Portuguese: sem coração Russian: бессерде́чный (ru) (besserdéčnyj), безду́шный (ru) (bezdúšnyj) Slovak: bezcitný Spanish: cruel (es), desalmado (es) Swedish: hjärtlös (sv) Ukrainian: безсерде́чний (uk) (bezserdéčnyj)

Anagrams

• Earthless, Latherses, earthless, hartlesse, shearlets