relentlessnessn.
/rᵻˈlɛntləsnəs/, U.S. /rəˈlɛn(t)ləsnəs/, /riˈlɛn(t)ləsnəs/ The quality of being relentless (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > pitilessness > [noun] > mercilessness > unrelentingness
unrelentance1637
unrelentingness1649
relentlessness1805
1805 Miniature 25 Mar. 349 That fixed and steady relentlessness of mind with which he [sc. the gambler]..inflict[s] irretrievable ruin.
1808 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) II. 86 I devoted a week to the corrections, weeding them with righteous relentlessness.
1883 H. Wace Gospel & Witnesses iv. 86 The relentlessness with which it exposes the fatal vice.
1938 Times 12 Apr. 14/4 Events succeed one another in Spain with the relentlessness of a Greek tragedy.
1991 P. Roth Patrimony iii. 80 Jonathan..whom my father, in weekly phone calls and in letters, was advising, with the usual relentlessness, to save and not spend.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1805