1
as in unconscious
having lost consciousness she collapsed, senseless, after hitting her head

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2
3
as in stupid
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily he may be a little absentminded, but he's really not as senseless as he seems

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4
5
as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation even the senseless sea seemed determined to swamp the storm-tossed ship

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of senseless My senate office stands ready to assist families, students, and educators with navigating this crisis and will do everything in my power to push for meaningful legislative changes to prevent senseless acts of gun violence. Raul A. Reyes, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2025 In spite of those aims, or perhaps in pursuit of them, over the course of this story their lives will devolve into senseless violence. Evan Ratliff, WIRED, 21 Feb. 2025 The phrase 'practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty' was coined in 1982 by magazine writer and editor Anne Herbert. Kendall Malinchock, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2025 This new one is punctuated by a series of senseless and brutal killings, as if to suggest that the poison has always been within us. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for senseless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for senseless
Adjective
  • The actress was unconscious and unresponsive, according to the New York Police Department.
    Brie Stimson, Fox News, 27 Feb. 2025
  • This residual may stem from conscious or unconscious bias or other factors outside the scope of this research.
    Kweilin Ellingrud, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • If Missouri were to abolish state income taxes, tax credits would become meaningless.
    Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Xavier is headed out of the silo Xavier was always going to leave the silo to try to find his wife, despite a brief tryst with Sinatra's therapist, Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), that wound up being meaningless from both a plot and character perspective.
    Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • That would have been a stupid question just about anywhere else, but the exhibition was by Laura Owens, a painter with a penchant for trickery, and the venue was Matthew Marks Gallery in New York, whose press release for Owens’s latest outing offered little in the way of explanation.
    Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 24 Feb. 2025
  • Thank you Hallie for thinking of me and putting my name in your stupid brother's ear.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Peter, though revered as an apostle worthy of veneration, is also portrayed in the Gospels as prone to mistakes, often foolish, and sometimes outright contradictory to God’s will.
    Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The notion that women should be flawless multitaskers, managing a perfect home and career while never showing vulnerability or weakness is not only unrealistic, but also foolish.
    Nicole Lipkin, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • That’s why horror movies often have these inanimate emblems that are so terrifying.
    Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2025
  • Celebrate by having a relaxing bath with your favorite inanimate waterfowl.
    Rosalind Bowling, The Tennessean, 20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.
    Daniel Jackson, Allure, 18 July 2017
  • Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.
    Andy Benoit, The MMQB, 10 July 2017
Adjective
  • Using medieval art as one resource, Ariès pointed out that children were often portrayed as miniature adults, without special attributes, such as plump features or silly behaviors, that might mark them as fundamentally different from their older counterparts.
    Anna Mae Duane, The Conversation, 5 Mar. 2025
  • This will especially appeal to the silly preschoolers in the group!
    Amanda Rock, Parents, 5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The brain, like other internal organs, is insensate, its lack of sensory receptors attested by videos of virtuoso violinists who play on unfazed as neurosurgeons go to work inside their skulls.
    Matthew Ponsford, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2024
  • But states have used midazolam alone — and at much higher doses — in executions since 2013, claiming the drug will render people insensate to pain before the administration of other lethal injection drugs.
    Lauren Gill, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Senseless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/senseless. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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