The Guild could and occasionally did exhibit a certain ruthlessness.
Indeed, where medicine is supposed to be clinical and dispassionate, democratic politics often requires unseemly compromise and a certain ruthlessness.
And in whatever deal he was pursuing, he brought to it a new style - a certain ruthlessness, a taste for the kill.
That implies a certain ruthlessness, and you can add to that their age.
I - I have noticed a certain ruthlessness about George Milton that has always worried me.
It was as if he sensed a certain ruthlessness in Jericho that he thought she would do well to experience.
True, they could have just stunned everyone from orbit, but that had a certain ruthlessness that both Decker and Kirk wanted to avoid if possible.
There is a certain ruthlessness of character in that kind of behavior.
A certain ruthlessness may be necessary but also an enlightened mercy.
At the same time, he has displayed a certain ruthlessness about disposing of tools which become liabilities.