unforgiving
adjective
un·for·giv·ing
| \ ˌən-fər-ˈgi-viŋ
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Definition of unforgiving
1
: unwilling or unable to forgive
2
: having or making no allowance for error or weakness
an unforgiving environment where false moves can prove fatal— Jaclyn Fierman
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Examples of unforgiving in a Sentence
They are unforgiving of the smallest mistake.
the unforgiving world of politics
Recent Examples on the Web
And an Oregon State schedule featuring Hawaii next week and Stanford, Utah, Washington, Washington State and Oregon in Pac-12 play is unforgiving. — oregonlive, "Goe: Oregon State Beavers are defenseless in a season-opening loss to Oklahoma State," 31 Aug. 2019 Nadal, meanwhile, has a long history of injury setbacks on a surface that is unforgiving, including retiring from his U.S. Open semifinal last year. — Howard Fendrich, baltimoresun.com, "US Open 2019: What you need to know, from Serena Williams to the Big 3," 25 Aug. 2019 For black trans women, the crisis is especially unforgiving. — Jason Parham, WIRED, "Depth of Field: On Pose, the Past Is the Present," 11 July 2019 At Andover, a school normally unforgiving of failure, he is repeatedly pardoned for academic disaster. — Evan Thomas, Washington Post, "An unsettling portrait of four privileged classmates who met untimely deaths," 25 July 2019 While Irving is smooth and methodical, Westbrook is vicious and unforgiving. — Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, "Celebrating National Hot Dog Day by examining the biggest hot-doggers in sports," 17 July 2019 But from the ground, the destruction is clear and unforgiving: A 33-foot wide, 13-foot gouge into the earth that began in the 1940s with an Allied sortie and ended Sunday morning in a massive blast in a barley field in central Germany. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "Massive blast leaves crater in German barley field," 25 June 2019 Bobbing atop the vast, unforgiving Atlantic in rowboats, whalers face a ghostly white cetacean that has prevailed in all of its previous encounters with puny humankind. — Daryl H. Miller, latimes.com, "Review: ‘Moby Dick — Rehearsed’ swims in an ocean of imagination at Theatricum," 14 June 2019 A year later, Bookchin formally laid out his objections to Sanders in a pungent and unforgiving essay for Socialist Review, which has had a long shelf life online as a reference for left-wing criticisms of Sanders. — Matthew Zeitlin, The New Republic, "Bernie’s Red Vermont," 13 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unforgiving.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for unforgiving
unforgiving
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of unforgiving
: not willing to forgive other people
: very harsh or difficult : not allowing weakness, error, etc.
See the full definition for unforgiving in the English Language Learners Dictionary