imprudence
Americannoun
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lack of wisdom or care in the management of practical or economic affairs.
Your decisions demonstrate fiscal imprudence and shortsighted thinking.
-
lack of discretion or caution.
The whistleblower learned of the scheme through the hiring executive's imprudence.
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disregard for one’s own interests.
His own imprudence and unreasonable conduct are what caused the second injury.
Etymology
Origin of imprudence
First recorded in 1540–50; from Middle French, from Latin imprūdentia; see origin at in- 3 ( def. ), prudence
Explanation
Imprudence sometimes gets people in trouble, because it means a lack of care or thoughtfulness. The imprudence of not wearing your gloves in the winter might result in frostbite on your fingers. A person's imprudence is her tendency to rush headlong into decisions or actions without careful contemplation. Imprudence could lead a couple to get married just a week after meeting each other or a little girl to chase a run-away ball into a busy street. The Latin root word is imprudentem means "not forseeing, unaware, or inconsiderate."
Vocabulary lists containing imprudence
A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Northanger Abbey
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Sense and Sensibility
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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.
Rand Paul once had the political imprudence to express his views on it in public.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Critics say this "financial imprudence" has drained much of the country's economic resources and created unprecedented levels of debt that have crippled the economy.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2023
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators would seek to “determine whether or not there was failure to respect a rule or individual imprudence that led to the explosion.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
“The events of these days show the imprudence of not having further diversified our energy sources and our suppliers in the last decades,” he said last week.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2022
Miss Bingley saw all this likewise; and, in the imprudence of anger, took the first opportunity of saying, with sneering civility:
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
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.
