impiteous

English

Etymology

From im- + piteous.

Adjective

impiteous (comparative more impiteous, superlative most impiteous)

  1. (obsolete) Not showing pity or mercy.
    Synonyms: cruel, pitiless
    • 1547, Arthur Kelton, A Chronycle with a Genealogie Declaryng That the Brittons and Welshemen are Linealiye Dyscended from Brute, London: Richard Grafton,
      [] cruell Ualerian
      Uoide of all fauoure, most impiteous
      Of Emperoures all, none more vngracious
      Against Christes faithe,
    • 1623, William Shakespeare, Hamlet in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, Act II, Scene 2 [Act IV, Scene 5],
      The Ocean (ouer-peering of his List)
      Eates not the Flats with more impittious haste
      Then young Laertes, in a Riotous head,
      Ore-beares your Officers,
    • 1878, John Addington Symonds (translator), “Sonnet XXIII. The Modern Cupid” by Tommaso Campanella, in The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella, London: Smith, Elder, p. 141,
      Through full three thousand years the world reveres
      Blind Love that bears the quiver and hath wings:
      Now too he’s deaf, and to the sufferings
      Of folk in anguish turns impiteous ears.
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