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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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 Despite a ticking clock that seemingly guarantees the girls’ senseless death will be discarded as a cold case, Noelle is determined to identify the body and uncover the truth. Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2025 The ultimate in senseless crime: murder by mistake. Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 17 Mar. 2025 That’s how a video game rife with mindless violence provided a kind of refuge—and turned out to be an apt and very funny location for the senseless bloodshed of the Bard’s most famous of tragedies. Vogue, 14 Mar. 2025 How else can people find security and reassurance in this senseless world? Yiyun Li, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for senseless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for senseless
Adjective
  • His head collided with the knee of White Sox second baseman, Al Weiss, and he was knocked unconscious.
    Raymond Daniel Burke, Baltimore Sun, 29 Mar. 2025
  • Francis had ruled out intubation, which would mean being kept unconscious, the leader of the medical team, Dr. Sergio Alfieri, said in an interview.
    Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Because, with the Celtics all but promised to finish second in the Eastern Conference, these games at the end of the regular season are essentially meaningless from a win-loss standpoint.
    Jay King, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2025
  • But in the stacks of the Alderman Library on the campus of the University of Virginia, the pencil and ink on the carrel shelf looked like nothing more than meaningless graffiti to almost everyone—except Professor Lise Dobrin and her students.
    April White, JSTOR Daily, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Amelia soon decides that stupid boys (and humans in general) aren't worth keeping around.
    Nick Romano, EW.com, 3 Apr. 2025
  • And in practice, the experience is delightfully stupid.
    Luke Winkie, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • While tailback isn’t a need, only foolish franchises pass up adding generational talents such as Jeanty.
    Omar Kelly, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Evening rush-hour commuters — who thought winter was over — felt foolish after the city was socked with a record-breaking spring snowfall.
    Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 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
  • This strategy worked for him for about 10 years—and then began to bore him silly.
    Art Spiegelman, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Believing in any conspiracy theory, even one that seems as inoffensive or silly as the flat Earth theory, can set a person up to fall into larger conspiracy theories, Dashtgard says, like the idea that feminism is a global conspiracy meant to drag men down.
    Fortesa Latifi, Rolling Stone, 4 Apr. 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 16 Apr. 2025.

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