CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORD: Understanding Contextual Usage

CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORD: Understanding Contextual Usage
1. relentless, remorseless, ruthless, pitiless
These words all apply to people or processes that are not affected by anyone’s wishes or entreaties. They differ chiefly in the extent to which they emphasize continuing activity or the attitude with which it is carried out.
• A relentless action or process cannot be stopped (the relentless march of rainforest destruction) and is unvaryingly intense or severe (the ships are subjected to relentless air attack). When applied to a person, it means ‘inflexible or uncompromising’ but does not necessarily imply a lack of pity or humanity (a patient but relentless taskmaster).
• Remorseless is used of a process that will not be stopped or deflected however great the suffering or distress it causes (the company continued the remorseless retrenchment drive). When used of a person, the word marks them out as having no regret or guilt about the distress they have caused (a remorseless killer).
• A ruthless person has no pity or compassion for others (ruthless terrorists murdered a child yesterday) and is usually determined to continue regardless (Mayawati is an astute and ruthless political operator).
• Whereas a ruthless person is without pity for anyone in pursuit of some goal, the emphasis of pitiless, a rarer word, is on a more intrinsic absence of pity itself (his cold pitiless voice).
2. sarcastic, caustic, sardonic, ironic
3. flourish, thrive, prosper
4. lazy, idle, indolent
5. brusque, abrupt, curt, terse
6. assuage, alleviate, allay