Word.ws English Dictionary

unforgiving

unforgiving adjective: unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy. Also the present participle and gerund of unforgive.

Adjective

unforgiving (comparative more unforgiving, superlative most unforgiving)

  1. Unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy.
    • The electorate was in an unforgiving mood.
  2. (figuratively) Having no allowance for error or weakness.
    • The unforgiving Arctic climate makes short work of the unprepared.
    • In a raucous atmosphere, it was an unforgiving and physical contest from the start. Grant Hanley conceded the first free-kick within the opening 20 seconds, setting the tone for a busy and thankless evening for Serbian referee Milorad Mazic.2014 November 14, Stephen Halliday, “Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero”, in The Scotsman

Also used as

unforgiving is also the present participle and gerund of unforgive.

unforgiving meaning in Bengali

unforgiving in Bengali

not forgiving
ক্ষমাহীন khômahīn

Examples of unforgiving in a sentence

  • The line may be very scenic, but it runs through areas exposed to some extreme and unforgiving weather that does its worst on station buildings and the infrastructure!2022 December 28, Don Jary, “Partnerships enhancing the S&C”, in RAIL, number 973, page 34:
  • The terrain in Ukraine’s south is unforgiving for attackers, with wide open fields and little high ground, and Ukrainian troops are meeting staunch resistance from Russian forces.2023 June 21, Cassandra Vinograd, “Battling Russia, Ukrainian Leaders Also Fight High Expectations”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

All 15 example sentences with unforgiving

Forms of unforgiving

comparativemore unforgiving
superlativemost unforgiving

Origin of unforgiving

From un- + forgiving.

From unforgive + -ing.

Words formed from unforgiving

Questions about unforgiving

What does unforgiving mean?
Unforgiving means unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy.
What is unforgiving in Bengali?
Unforgiving in Bengali is ক্ষমাহীন (khômahīn). See Unforgiving meaning in Bengali.
How do you use unforgiving in a sentence?
The line may be very scenic, but it runs through areas exposed to some extreme and unforgiving weather that does its worst on station buildings and the infrastructure!
What part of speech is unforgiving?
Unforgiving is an adjective.

Words near unforgiving in the dictionary

  1. unforgiven
  2. unforgiveness
  3. unforgiver
  4. unforgivers
  5. unforgives
  6. unforgiving
  7. unforgivingly
  8. unforgivingness
  9. unforgoable
  10. unforgone
  11. unforgot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unforgiving (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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