adj, verb ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of unforgive form-of, gerund, participle, present

Adjective

1. 1
   Unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy.

   "The electorate was in an unforgiving mood."

2. 2
   Having no allowance for weakness. figuratively

   "The unforgiving Arctic climate makes short work of the unprepared."

Adjective

1. 1
   unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy wordnet
2. 2
   not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bowellesscrueldog-eat-dogflintygrimhard

Antonyms

All antonyms

forgiving

Example

More examples

"There are people who will be unforgiving. They never forget what you did in the past."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From un- + forgiving.

Etymology 2

From unforgive + -ing.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.