dispassionate
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- dispassionately adverb
- dispassionateness noun
- undispassionate adjective
- undispassionately adverb
Etymology
Origin of dispassionate
First recorded in 1585–95; dis- 1 + passionate
Explanation
Dispassionate describes someone who is not getting carried away by — or maybe not even having — feelings. It's something you'd want to see in a surgeon, who keeps cool under pressure, but not in a romantic partner. Dispassionate is the opposite of passionate, and while passions are said to run "hot," dispassionate people are often described as "cold." Many people think that a judge should be dispassionate when deciding a case — unaffected by strong emotions or preconceived prejudices.
Vocabulary lists containing dispassionate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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.
Only this wasn’t ER, and Dr. Weiner’s voice, dispassionate as he tried to make it, contained an unmistakable trace of actual human horror.
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026
As noted in its foreword, the Reference Manual provides a dispassionate guide for judges who may need help understanding the background science in cases where science and law intersect.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
We must all reexamine our beliefs in a critical and dispassionate spirit to determine whether we are apprehending reality or clinging to mental fetishes.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
As a dispassionate observer of lots of faith institutions, I have felt there are few that match the Church of England for its wide range of views within the same fold.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2024
This one massive miscarriage of justice had afflicted the whole community with despair and made it hard for me to be dispassionate.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
