ruthless
Very cruel and not feeling sorry for others.
Showing no pity or mercy; willing to cause pain or suffering without feeling sorry.
Wanting to succeed so much that you do not care if others suffer.
Determined to achieve a goal and prepared to use harsh or unfair methods, without caring who is hurt.
Very direct and severe, without being gentle.
Extremely strict or thorough, especially in criticizing, judging, or removing what is not good enough, without trying to be gentle.
- Base: ruthless
ruthless ambition
1ambition that ignores others’ harm
A very strong wish to succeed, even if it hurts others.
- His ruthless ambition pushed him to betray his closest allies.
- Ruthless ambition can be admired in movies, but it causes real damage in workplaces.
- They blamed her ruthless ambition for the toxic culture on the team.
- He has ruthless ambition.
ruthless competition
1very harsh, uncaring competition
Competition that is very hard and not fair or kind.
- Small shops struggled to survive in the face of ruthless competition.
- Ruthless competition drives prices down, but it can also drive workers out.
- The app market is famous for ruthless competition and fast copycats.
- There is ruthless competition here.
ruthless cost-cutting
1aggressive cutting of expenses
Cutting costs in a very harsh way.
- Ruthless cost-cutting led to layoffs across the company.
- The hospital’s ruthless cost-cutting reduced waiting times in some areas but damaged patient care in others.
- After the merger, ruthless cost-cutting measures were announced immediately.
- They started ruthless cost-cutting.
ruthless efficiency
1efficiency achieved by harsh cuts
Being efficient in a very hard, uncaring way.
- The new manager introduced ruthless efficiency, cutting meetings and staff overnight.
- The company’s ruthless efficiency improved profits but hurt morale.
- With ruthless efficiency, she reorganized the team in a single week.
- The company values ruthless efficiency.
ruthless honesty
1very direct, possibly hurtful honesty
Telling the truth in a very direct, harsh way.
- She prides herself on ruthless honesty, but her comments often sound cruel.
- Ruthless honesty can help a team improve, if it comes with respect.
- He answered with ruthless honesty and admitted he didn’t trust the plan.
- He spoke with ruthless honesty.