Dictionary

kindless en · ADJ

Etymology

From kind (“inherent quality, nature”, noun) + -less. Compare Middle English kindelæs (“incapable of generation, barren”). The sense "destitute of kindness" is likely influenced by kind (“benevolent; affectionate”, adjective).

Meanings

1. (archaic, literary) Unnatural; lacking expected feeling or ability.
   • The Normanthorpe roses, famous throughout the north of England, were as yet barely budding in the kindless wind […] 1902, E. W. Hornung, chapter 10, in The Shadow of the Rope, New York: Scribner, pages 111–112:
   • Poore Thamar, little did thy louely hands Foretell an action of ſuch violence, As to contend with Ammons luſty armes, Sinnewd with vigor of his kindleſſe loue, Faire Thamar now diſhonour hunts thy foot, 1599, George Peele, The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe, page 37:
   • Remorselesse, Treacherous, Letcherous, kindles villaine! c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
   • Kneel not to me, ungrateful, kindless girl! I have been prostrate at your feet in vain. 1771, Hugh Kelly, Clementina, London: Edward & Charles Dilly and T. Cadell, Act III, page 30:
2. (archaic) Heartless; destitute of kindness.
   • It is honorable to human nature, that his impressions of the common people in England, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, were of a pleasing character, as he was often placed in relations to them calculated to draw out their true nature, whether it were kind or kindless. 1847 March, “Review of new books”, in Graham's Magazine, volume 30, number 3, page 204:
   • For a selfish and kindless nature no apologist dare appear : while in behalf of those who err from the excess of generous affections, there standeth ever a mediating angel between them and their worst offences. 1822, Anna Maria Porter, Roche-blanche; or, The Hunters of the Pyrenees, page 369:
3. (qualifier:type theory) Having no specific kind, unspecified, general.
   • Types are called kindless if their interface has been specified, but we have not yet decided how to describe their behavior and we do not know their kind. We have currently implemented kindless objects as regular objects with a predefined behavior. 1992, Aviv Cohen, Shmuel Tyszberowicz, Amiram Yehudai, “OBSERV/CRUISE—A CASE Environment for Prototyping of Complex Systems”, in K. Lyytinen, V.P. Tahvanainen, editors, Next Generation CASE Tools, page 70:
   • In addition to performing queries on entities of a given kind, the datastore lets you perform a limited set of queries on entities of all kinds. Kindless queries cannot use filters or sort orders on properties. 2010, Dan Sanderson, Programming Google App Engine, page 143:

Forms

Antonyms

kindful