heedless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of heedless
Explanation
Someone heedless is reckless or not paying attention. Heedless rhymes with needless, and someone who's heedless acts as if needed things are needless. If you head out to surf in a tsunami, you're heedless of the giant-wave warnings. When you pay heed to something you pay attention to it or consider it, but if you’re heedless you do the opposite. Sometimes being heedless means being a risk-taker in an exciting way, or it can just mean losing track of time, but often it describes being inconsiderate. If you keep raising the volume when your brother asks you to turn down the music, you’re heedless of his need to study, and if you're heedless of the yellow tape that says "Do not cross," you disregard the law.
Vocabulary lists containing heedless
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Heedless web surfers were going to post everything online, where it would be downloaded for free, wrecking the value of creative endeavors.
From New York Times • Jan. 13, 2024
Heedless of his own personal safety, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said Tuesday that for Malone to demonstrate “an absence of harm” from a merger would be insufficient reason to approve the merger.
From The Guardian • May 26, 2015
Heedless of Dorothy’s pleas about Miss Gulch’s intent to abduct and kill Toto, Em admonishes her to go “find yourself a place where you won’t get into any trouble.”
From Time • Sep. 20, 2013
Heedless of his admonitions, school presidents jockey for pay days, like roller-derby skaters tussling in a jam.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 22, 2011
Heedless of Coll, unable even to hear him above the din, Taran pounded harder than ever.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
