careless
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɛəlɪs/
ipa: /ˈkɛələs/
ipa: /kɛɹ.ləs/
ipa: /kɛɚ.ləs/
ipa: /keː.ləs/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /kiə.ləs/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /keə.ləs/
ipa: /keɹ.ləs/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /kɜː(ɹ).ləs/
rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)ləs
Forms: form: more careless
form: most careless
Etymology: From Middle English careles, from Old English carlēas (“careless, reckless, void of care, free from care, free”), equivalent to care + -less. Cognate with Icelandic kærulaus (“careless, negligent”).
Senses: examples: text: "He was here," observed Drina composedly, "and father was angry with him."
"What?" exclaimed Eileen. "When?"
"This morning, before father went downtown."
Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina's case.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
glosses: Not concerned or worried (about).
examples: text: Jessica was so careless that she put her shorts on backwards.
text: These ballads, none of which are later than the fifteenth century, are written in a strain of the most artless simplicity, not the slightest attempt at ornament is to be discerned in them; the same ideas and expressions continually recur, and the rimes are the most careless imaginable, often a mere assonnance in vowels or consonants, sometimes not possessing even that slight similarity of sound.
ref: 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 132:
text: I don't find the pose of careless youth charming and engaging any more than you find the pose of careworn age fascinating and eccentric, I should imagine.
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 35:
synonyms: negligent
reckless
glosses: Not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes.
examples: text: Jessica was careless about putting her shorts on properly.
text: Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 27, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: laid-back
word: unconcerned
word: airy
word: at ease
word: at peace
word: carefree
word: careless
word: casual
word: chill
word: cool
word: devil-may-care
word: easy-breezy
word: easygoing
word: happy-go-lucky
word: indifferent
word: insouciant
word: laid-back
word: leisurely
word: lighthearted
word: loose
word: mellow
word: nonchalant
word: pococurante
word: relaxed
word: serene
word: solute
word: tranquil
word: unanxious
word: unbothered
word: unconcerned
word: undisturbed
word: unruffled
word: untroubled
word: unworried
word: wanton
glosses: Free from care; unworried, without anxiety.
Synonyms: word: careless
word: remiss
word: cursory
word: derelict
word: heedless
word: irregardless
word: irrespective
word: negligent
word: reckless
word: regardless
word: slapdash
word: sloppy
word: slovenly
word: slipshod
word: unfaithful
Hypernyms: word: deficient
Derived terms: beastly careless
carelessly
carelessness
overcareless