heartlessadj.n.
/ˈhɑːtləs/, U.S. /ˈhɑrtləs/ 1. † a. Lacking in courage; characterized by cowardice; cowardly, fearful. Also as n.: cowardly people collectively. Cf. heart n. 11a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective]
arghc885
heartlessOE
bloodlessc1225
coward1297
faintc1300
nesha1382
comfortless1387
pusillanimousa1425
faint-heartedc1440
unheartyc1440
cowardous1480
hen-hearteda1529
cowardish1530
feigningc1540
white-livered1546
cowardly1551
faceless1567
pusillanime1570
liver-hearted1571
cowish1579
cowardise1582
coward-like1587
faint-heart1590
courageless1593
sheep-like1596
white-hearted1598
milky1602
milk-livered1608
undaring1611
lily-livereda1616
yarrow1616
flightful1626
chicken-hearted1629
poltroon1649
cow-hearted1660
whey-blooded1675
unbravea1681
nimble-heeled1719
dunghill1775
shrimp-hearted1796
chicken-livered1804
white-feathered1816
pluckless1821
chicken-spirited1822
milk-blooded1822
cowardy1836
yellow1856
yellow-livered1857
putty-hearted1872
uncourageous1878
chicken1883
piker1901
yellow-bellied1907
manso1932
scaredy-cat1933
chickenshit1940
cold-footed1944
OE Judgement Day II 125 Micel bið se broga beforan domsetle drihtnes..; stent he[rgea mæst] heortleas and earh, amasod and amarod, mihtleas, afæred.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. 349 Thei..Ben herteles withoute speche Of love, and dar nothing beseche.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 11322 Þorh idelnes of pes ere Bretons feble & hertles.
c1475 Medit. Life & Passion of Christ (Rawl.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 118 Cowardis and hertles..sal be so stade þat þai sal wille crepe in a moushool.
a1529 J. Skelton Speke Parrot in Poet. Wks. (1843) II. 19 O causeles cowardes, O hartles hardynes! O manles manhod, enfayntyd all with fere!
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 786 They are all in their brauerie amonge friendes, but hartlesse amonge enimies.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Couille,..a heartlesse, faint-hearted, or white-liuered slimme.
a1632 T. Taylor Christs Victorie over Dragon (1633) 179 An heartlesse and effeminate coward is hee, whom every sleight feare casteth almost into a swound.
1739 ‘Sophia’ Woman not Inferior to Man vii. 52 Are there not Men as void of courage as the most heartless of our sex?
1779 W. Preston Female Congr. iv. 50 Th' invading bands recoil, with heartless fear.
1800 W. Gifford Epist. to Peter Pindar (ed. 2) 43 So has a long course of impunity given an air of courage to the most tame and heartless coward that ever insulted the worth..of a country.
b. Of a person or a person's mood: lacking in enthusiasm or energy; dejected, disheartened, listless. Cf. heart n. 11b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective]
ungladc888
wearyc888
drearyc1000
dreary-moodOE
heavyc1000
unmerryOE
droopy?c1225
mournc1275
sada1300
languishinga1325
amayedc1330
matec1330
unlightc1330
unblissful1340
lowa1382
mishappyc1390
dullc1393
elengely1393
droopinga1400
heavy-hearteda1400
joylessa1400
sytefula1400
mornifc1400
tristy?c1400
lightless?1406
heartlessa1413
tristc1420
amatec1425
languoring?c1425
mirthlessc1430
heavisome1435
darkc1440
gloomingc1440
comfortlessc1460
amateda1470
chermatc1475
tristfula1492
lustless?1507
dolorous1513
ruthful1513
downcast1521
deject1528
heartsicka1529
lumpisha1535
coolc1540
dowlyc1540
glum1547
discouraged1548
uncheerfulc1555
dumpish1560
out of heart1565
sadded1566
amoped1573
tristive1578
desolated1580
dejected1581
à la mort1586
delightless1589
afflicted1590
gladless1590
groanful1590
gloomya1593
muddy1592
sitheful1592
cloudy1594
leaden-hearted1596
disconsolated1598
clum1599
life-weary1599
spiritless1600
dusky1602
chop-fallen1604
flat1604
disanimated1605
jaw-fallen1605
moped1606
chap-fallen1608
decheerful1608
uncheerful1612
lacklustrea1616
pulled1616
dumpya1618
depressed1621
head-hung1632
grum1640
downa1644
dispirited1647
down-at-mouth1649
down in (rarely of) the mouth1649
unhearted1650
sunlessa1658
sadful1658
unlightened1659
chagrin1665
saddened1665
damp1667
moping1674
desponding1688
tristitious1694
unenjoying1697
unraised1697
unheartya1699
unked1698
despondent1699
dismal1705
unjoyful1709
unrejoiced1714
dreara1717
disheartened1720
mumpish1721
unrejoicing1726
downhearted1742
out of spirits1745
chagrineda1754
low-spirited1753
sombrea1767
black-blooded1771
glumpy1780
oorie1787
sombrous1789
morose1791
Novemberish1793
glumpish1800
mopeful1800
die-away1802
blue-devilish1804
blue-devilled1807
malagrugrous1818
down in the hip1826
yonderly1828
sunshineless1831
downfaced1832
broody1851
in a (or the) trough1856
blue-devilly1871
drooped1873
glummy1884
pippy1886
humpy1889
pipped1914
lousy1933
pissed1943
crappy1956
doomy1961
bummed1970
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) v. l. 1594 I herteles .I. syke I yn distresse. Syn ye with me nor I with yow may dele Yow neyþer sende ich herte may nor hele.
?a1450 (?c1400) Lay Folks' Catech. (Lamb.) (1901) 95 Accidy, þat is slownesse whan a man..ys hertles in eny gostly good.
1528 W. Tyndale Obed. Christen Man f. xlviiiv For where the fathers and mothers are weywarde hastie and churlish..there are the childern anone discoraged and hertelesse and apte for nothinge.
a1655 T. Armitage Tryall of Faith (1661) 473 They are in a heartless and listless condition, where there is no hope, there is no endeavour.
1683 J. Morrison tr. J. J. Struys Perillous Voy. iii. xxvi. 180 She perceiving me not at all flexible to imbrace her Proposals, grew on a sudden very Heartless and dejected.
1704 D. Defoe Storm 264 Our Men heartless and dispirited, tir'd with the Service of the Night, and every Minute expecting Death.
1793 J. Aikin & A. L. Barbauld Evenings at Home III. 118 Whence cold and heartless home he slunk Involv'd in sore disgrace.
1820 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. 30 July (1941) II. 80 Mrs. M. was not well, and her husband quite heartless.
1848 J. Hamilton Happy Home ii. 20 The man was in a heartless mood. He was sitting in his dingy chamber;..bleak feelings in his soul.
1916 Med. Pickwick 2 351/1 There is a ruined soul in that poor, heartless, wrecked body, almost beyond the possibility of salvation.
1934 W. W. Gill Manx Dial. ii. 63 Heartless, listless, spiritless, lacking in energy.
c. Of action, speech, etc.: lacking in enthusiasm or commitment; not heartfelt or zealous. Cf. half-hearted adj. 1. In early use esp. in religious contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > lukewarm or lacking enthusiasm
coolOE
luke1340
tepid1513
lukewarmc1522
unearnest1542
spiritless1566
zeallessa1594
faint1596
unfiery1598
tepidous1607
Laodicean1633
heartless1636
unzealous1643
slight1660
unenthusiastic1805
teporous1821
coolish1850
ice-cool1891
demotivated1963
meh2007
1636 S. Rogers Diary 22 May (2004) 56 Saboath, heartlesse doings at church, and sad familye at home.
1658 R. Allestree Pract. Christian Graces; or, Whole Duty of Man v. §22. 123 Surely the things we ask from God, are so much above the rule of an ordinary almes, that we can never expect they should be given to slight and heartless petitions.
1752 J. Byrom Enthusiasm 23 Not the Lip-Service, nor the mouthing Waste Of heartless Words, without an inward Taste.
a1772 W. Langhorne Serm. on Pract. Subj. (1773) I. ii. 27 Those that have often made some weak and heartless attempts to amend their lives.
1813 P. B. Shelley Falsehood & Vice in Queen Mab 135 Heartless scraps of godly prayer.
1885 Sunday at Home 11 July 438/2 Their work, feeble and heartless and incomplete, lacking the stamp of originality.
1904 Outlook 30 Apr. 1021/1 The dry-as-dust, anæmic sermon and heartless, cold, and perfunctory service.
1997 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 14 Oct. b1 For most of Monday night, the Cowboys gave the heartless effort of a team that didn't want to win.
2. Lacking understanding; foolish. Cf. heart n. 12. Now archaic and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > [adjective]
unwittyc1000
heartlessa1382
meana1387
conceitless?c1425
insensuat1508
insensate1528
insensible?1531
miskenning1533
unsensible1560
witless1562
unfraught1587
unconceiving1593
stupid1595
small-knowing1598
surd1601
ununderstanding1611
unapprehensible1613
unperceiving?1623
unapprehensive1624
inapprehending1652
incomprehensive1652
inapprehensive1653
impenetrative1684
blind1692
uncomprehensive1694
unpenetrating1701
unmeaning1704
vacant1712
gilly-gaupus1754
unacute1775
unapprehending1794
unpenetrative1795
unwitted1828
uncomprehending1838
irrecognizant1845
vacuous1848
incomprehending1881
mush-headed1884
wantwit1894
doofus1967
acerebral1968
brain-dead1972
goofus1981
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. xii. 8 Who forsothe is veyn and herteles [L. excors], shal ben open to despising.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 237 Hertles, or vnherty, vecors.
c1475 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 251 Ye prowd galonttes hertlesse, With your hyghe cappis witlesse..Have brought this londe in gret hevynesse.
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. lxxxiiv O hertles folys, haste here to our doctryne.
1697 T. Scott Unhappy Kindness i. i. 7 The Gods are kind, we wanting to our selves; Unstable unresolv'd; like heartless fools, That still in expectation loose fruition.
1799 J. Scott tr. Ināyat Allāh Bahar-Danush I. ix. 167 She, who in wisdom and knowledge was superior to her husband, exclaimed, ‘Ah! heartless, simple man.’
1882 Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours 31 455/1 I will have my revenge—not on you, poor, heartless, dazzled fool! but on him who has stolen my birthright.
2008 A. Hudon Daughter of Isaan xi. 165 He cast her his typical look of befuddlement, poor heartless soul that he was.
3. literal. Without a heart. In early use frequently as part of an extended metaphor with elements of sense 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > vascular system > heart > [adjective] > without
heartlessc1440
c1440 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) App. 220 (MED) I most as a hertles body Abyde alone in heuynes.
a1500 in R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1952) 158 Fare-well my myrthe..As for the tyme y am but recules [perh. read recurles], lyke to a fygure wyche that ys hertlees.
1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 105/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II None hartlesse liues, his countrie then alas what ioie is left.
1619 M. Drayton Odes in Poems (new ed.) 288 It [sc. the heart] cannot two Brests fill, One must be heartlesse still.
?1658 A. Kemp Contempl. Bassets-Down-Hill (single sheet) 1 Thus heartless, doth my worthless body rest Whilest my heart liveth with the ever blest.
1727 S. Hales Veg. Staticks i. 13 And the motion of the sap is thereby much accelerated, which in the heartless vegetable would otherwise be very slow.
1753 Scots Mag. July 315/1 A shapeless, helpless, heartless body.
1887 Irish Ecclesiast. Rec. Nov. 982 Nothing now remains of him but a marrowless heartless skeleton.
1901 Christian Work 27 June 1062/2 The black lovers carried the heartless body of Dr. Livingstone from Ilala down to the coast.
1995 United Press Internat. (Nexis) 29 Nov. The headless, heartless body had been wrapped in a plastic bag.
4.
a. Devoid of feeling; displaying a complete lack of compassion or consideration; callous, unkind, cruel. Also occasionally: without genuine feeling, insincere.Now the usual sense. N.E.D. (1898) notes, however, that it ‘is not recognized in Johnson, Todd, Webster 1828’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > hard-heartedness > [adjective]
hard hearteOE
hateleOE
hard-heartedc1225
cruel1297
dure1412
flinty1536
heartless1556
flint-hearted1560
stone-hearted?1569
stony-hearted1569
iron-hearted1570
steel-hearted1571
unbowelled1592
blunt1594
flintful1596
flint-heart1596
brassy1600
unfeeling1600
cold-blooded1602
cold-hearteda1616
flinty-hearted1629
callous1647
unsympathizing1735
cool-hearted1748
pebble-hearted1816
unsympathetic1823
cold1849
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [adjective] > callous or hard-hearted
hard hearteOE
steelena1000
hardOE
hard-heartedc1225
stony?c1230
yhert1340
dure1412
hardedc1425
induratec1425
stonishc1450
hardenedc1480
steely1508
flinty1536
endured1540
stiff-stomached1540
heartless1556
indured1558
flint-hearted1560
iron1561
marble1565
stone-hearted?1569
stony-hearted1569
iron-hearted1570
steel-hearted1571
rocky?1578
brawned1582
flinted1582
padded1583
obdure?1590
brawny1596
flintful1596
flint-heart1596
steeled1600
cauterized1603
indurated1604
flinty-hearted1629
ahenean1630
dedolent1633
brawny-hearteda1639
hard-grained1643
callous1647
upsitten1682
seared1684
petrified1720
calloused1746
coreless1813
pebble-hearted1816
hard-shelled1848
hard-plucked1857
steel trap1921
1556 J. Heywood Spider & Flie lxv. sig. Eeiiv Which sight, such strength (he saide) to their harts must call, That a hartlesse harted spider: should be growne: Hardy to fight, till we flies be ouerthrowne.
1615 W. Smith Hector of Germany sig. Dv But to a hartlesse foe words are but vaine. Alarum Drum, that showres of blood may raigne.
1657 G. G. D'Ouvilly False Favourit Disgrac'd i. i. 3 Were your kind ears th'attentive auditors Of her faint sighes, and you not eccho them, Your heart were heartlesse rock.
1798 W. Sotheby tr. C. M. Wieland Oberon x. xxxvi. 347 He must be wholly heartless, wholly stone.
1833 Chambers' Edinb. Jrnl. 8 June 145/1 The heartless frivolities which characterise a winter of fashionable life in the Scottish..capitals.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 70 Leolin cried out the more upon them—Insolent, brainless, heartless!
1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. vi. 189 He made up his mind that I was heartless and selfish.
1956 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 9 Jan. 17/3 She is indignant at her sisters' heartless flattery of their father, and in her turn she utters no word in excess of her actual feeling.
1989 P. Fussell Wartime vi. 67 Detachment may be heartless, but it makes it possible for sensitive people to survive the war relatively undamaged.
2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy vii. 147 I suppose you'll be tutting about what a self-centred, heartless bastard I am to even think about myself.
b. Of a place or thing: lacking in character, individuality, or humanity; soulless, unfriendly.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [adjective] > wearisome or tedious > bland or insipid
colourlessc1425
unsavouryc1449
wearish?1533
wersha1599
tasteless1603
tame1604
juiceless1620
water gruela1627
dry1632
soulless1632
frigid1643
vapid1656
insipida1684
fade1715
heartless1780
vapid1785
achromatic1799
sauceless1817
albuminous1858
antiseptic1891
flat-footed1899
unatmospheric1913
defanged1920
anodyne1933
spiceless1942
tea-party1961
nothingburger1965
1780 P. Luckombe Tour through Ireland ii. 91 The custom-house..seems a heartless, dejected place. Its walls are turned to an anatomy, and even the stones reduced to ashes.
1830 W. Irving Life & Lett. (1864) II. 437 It was such a treat after the hurry and scurry, and heartless bustle of London.
1835 T. Walker Original No. 7. 98 For want of division into communities, from parish communities upwards, and for want of self-government, society is vague, heartless, and dull.
1918 Washington Post 24 Feb. (Mag.) 4/6 My heart was really heavy and Paris seemed heartless and dull.
1988 P. Fitzgerald Beginning of Spring i. 7 Dine with me..at my place, and very simply, not in the heartless surroundings of a restaurant.
2004 Uncut Mar. 135/3 The music from this show at the Palladium in NYC is..heartless jazz-prog, intricacy for intricacy's sake.
5. Of land or soil: without fertility; sterile, barren. Cf. heart n. 18a. Now rare. In quot. 1599 perhaps with punning allusion to sense 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > infertile
unbearingc825
geasonOE
unkindc1330
barren1377
unfructuousa1382
poora1387
leanc1420
exile?1440
salt1535
unfruitful?1542
sterile1572
dead1577
unlusty1580
queasy1593
heartless1594
unfertile1596
emacerated1610
sapless1655
unprolific1672
uncivil1676
ungrateful1681
worn1681
teemless1687
unproductive1725
poorish1767
ill-conditioned1796
scanty1797
rammelly1808
starve-acre1891
1594 H. Plat Diuerse Sorts of Soyle 38 in Jewell House In an hartlesse peece of ground.
1599 W. Shakespeare et al. Passionate Pilgrime (new ed.) sig. C7 How sighes resound through hartles ground Like a thousand vanquisht men in blodie fight.
1611 R. Fenton Treat. Vsurie ii. xiii. 95 The land if it want a Iubile will in time grow hartlesse.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 39 Grownds that are mossy and heartlesse.
1712 tr. N. Boileau-Despréaux Epist. Gardiner 2 Clip, prune, pale, dig, manure a heartless Soil.
1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. i. xii. 154 The narrow argillaceous zone of coal measures; which is of so cold and heartless a quality as almost to defy improvement.
1895 Macmillan's Mag. 72 421/2 Light, poor, heartless soil.
1901 6th Ann. Rep. Pennsylvania Dept. Agric. II. 155 If he continue to rob the soil of the plant growth it provides for its own feeding, the poor, crushed soil becomes heartless and practically dead.
6. Of food or drink: lacking in nourishment or sustenance; unstimulating; (hence) uninspiring, bland. Cf. hearty adj. 6. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > nourishing > not
mistrum?c1225
leanc1325
weak1382
hungry1561
excremental1576
unnourishable1590
low1603
excrementitial1620
heartless1620
excrementitious1623
inalimental1626
sustenanceless1630
lifeless1633
excrementious1636
oligotrophic1659
meagre1663
unnutritive1700
innutritious1796
unnutritious1821
innutrient1822
unalimentary1822
unnourishing1826
innutritive1844
foodless1916
the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > stimulating > not
heartless1620
1620 W. Bradshaw Mariage Feast 18 in T. Gataker & W. Bradshaw 2 Mariage Serm. Their former lives and conversations haue bin vnto Christ but (as it were) a cup of heartlesse water.
1674 R. Godfrey Var. Injuries in Physick 90 Following Heartless Slops and Spiritless Small-beer.
1688 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Persecution Piedmont 39 Bad Bread, black and heartless, without Substance.
1712 Prayer of Jeremy Paraphras'd in A. Pope Misc. Poems 112 Here, Nights we labour; there, whole Days we sweat, And barely earn the heartless Bread we eat.
1841 J. Bullar & H. Bullar Winter in Azores I. ix. 177 It consisted of potatoes chopped small.., cabbages, a few beans, fennel, and a little Indian-corn bread... It was poor heartless compost to rear fine men upon.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone III. iv. 62 Their wretched heartless stuff, such as they call claret.
1963 E. David in Spectator 1 Feb. 146/3 I..started to work out..my furious revolt against that terrible, cheerless, heartless food by writing descriptions of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking.
7.
a. Of a cabbage, lettuce, etc.: not having or forming a heart or compact mass of leaves.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > head or heart > [adjective] > not having heart
heartless1825
1825 Lit. Chron. & Weekly Rev. 17 Dec. 803/1 Even the young cabbages themselves contrive to look genteel, in virtue of their as yet heartless state.
1862 Gardener’s Monthly Nov. 334/1 Heartless cabbages, lettuce and stringy radish, beans and peas with half ripened seeds are taken to the compost heap.
1904 E. M. Eggar Indian Garden 22 His cauliflowers never flowered, and his cabbages were heartless; they only grew hard, and tough.
1928 K. Gough Garden Bk. for Malaya 333 Anyone who has grown lettuce in open beds will never again be content with the limp, heartless lettuces produced in boxes.
1960 Gardeners Chron. 20 Aug. 190/1 Its lower parts when not in flower remind one of a heartless cabbage.
2011 Great Fruit & Veg. Guide (DK Publishing) (Amer. ed.) 250 Sow in late summer for a late fall crop of heartless leafy greens.
b. Of a tree or timber: lacking heartwood or core. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1837 Tract Mag. Oct. 186 That old, heartless oak no longer affords shade and shelter to the sheep and cattle, nor does it look pleasant to the eye.
1859 W. H. Russell in Times 24 Mar. 9/4 Spongiose and heartless timbers are of no good.
1877 Garden 21 Apr. 310/2 The heavy narcotic smell of its flowers, its hard and heartless wood, and the ugly drooping black fungus that is found almost exclusively on it [sc. the elder].
1912 J. H. Stone England's Riviera 457 As is well known, the elder is devoid of heart-wood, but is full of pith, so perhaps the legend of Judas's association with the tree arose from the fact that the elder may be called the heartless wood.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.OE