- indifferent
- ndifferent 1 Indifferent, unconcerned, incurious, aloof, detached, uninterested, disinterested mean not feeling or showing interest, especially natural or normal interest.Indifferent is often used in place of the other and more specific terms. It may imply neutrality of attitude arising either from a lack of bias, prejudice, or predilection when two or more persons or things are considered or from a lack of feeling for or against a particular person or thing{
it is impossible to remain indifferent to political parties when great issues are at stake
}{he was . . . exceedingly difficult to please, not . . . because he was hypercritical and exacting, but because he was indifferent— Bennett
}{nature had no sympathy with our hopes and fears, and was completely indifferent to our fate— L. P. Smith
}Unconcerned implies indifference such as arises from unconsciousness, insensitiveness, or selfishness which prevents one from being moved, worried, or made solicitous{convincing the unconcerned, the apathetic, and the downright hostile— Fine
}{readers unconcerned with style and philosophical illumination— Cor dell
}Incurious implies indifference arising from a lack of intellectual interest or normal curiosity; it often suggests incapacity because of temperament or state of mind{why . . . are we, as a race, so incurious, irresponsive and insensitive— Woolf
}{the incurious ignorance of the poor about the diseases among which they live— Edmund Wilson
}Aloof and especially its derivative aloofness stress indifference that is the natural result of feeling apart or at a distance from someone or something (as from temperamental reserve, a sense of superiority, or an aversion to the inferior){young people . . . tend to become arrogant and hard, ignorant of the problems of adult life, and quite aloof from their parents— Russell
}{it nerved him to break through the awe-inspiring aloofness of his captain— Conrad
}Detached often implies a commendable aloofness which is the result of freedom from prejudices or of selfish concern for one's personal interests{the . . . frigid and detached spirit which leads to success in the study of astronomy or botany— Chesterton
}Sometimes it distinctively suggests a point of view or way of looking at persons or things as though they bear no relation to one's own life{Rome contemplated the spectacle with the detached, intelligent amusement of the . . . theatergoer— Rose Macaulay
}{he had been detached and impersonal about the great facts of life— Webb
}Uninterested is the most neutral of these terms and in itself suggests nothing beyond the fact of a lack of interest{aware of nature as uninterested in him, yet able to feed or crush him— Kelman
}Disinterested though increasingly interchangeable with uninterested, in its more discriminative use suggests a freedom from thought of personal advantage or interest that permits one to detect the truth, to tell the truth, or to judge truly{a disinterested observer
}{will teach that one disinterested deed of hope and faith may crown a brief and broken life with deathless fame— Eliot
}{although there are many things in which I am uninterested, I cannot be disinterested about the things in which I am interested— Lowrie
}{a disinterested historian
}Analogous words: impartial, unbiased, dispassionate, *fair: apathetic, *impassive, phlegmatic: *cool, nonchalantAntonyms: avidContrasted words: *eager, keen, agog: sympathetic, responsive, compassionate (see TENDER): *antipathetic, unsympathetic, averse2 average, moderate, *medium, middling, fair, mediocre, second-rateAnalogous words: ordinary, *commonAntonyms: choiceContrasted words: exquisite, rare, recherché (see CHOICE): superlative, surpassing, peerless, *supreme3 *neutral, negative
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
