heartless

CEFRB2

/ˈhɑːt.lɪs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Showing no kindness, sympathy, or pity.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Listless, unenthusiastic.

Examples

  • It is heartless of him to say so.

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

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Without a physical heart.

  2. Without feeling, emotion, or concern for others; uncaring; cruel.

  3. Without courage; fearful, cowardly.

More examples

In context

  • He is so heartless.

  • Near-synonyms: spiritless, unhearty

  • It's safer to be heartless than mindless. The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank boss fired the sick employee without any sympathy.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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