inattentive
Americanadjective
-
Inattentive or careless driving is a serious issue, and cell phones clearly contribute to it.
- Synonyms:
- thoughtless, slipshod, slapdash, remiss, regardless, neglectful, irresponsible, careless
- Antonyms:
- mindful, thoughtful, careful
-
characterized by or exhibiting a lack of focus or concentration.
Most children are occasionally inattentive, distractible, impulsive, or highly active.
- Synonyms:
- oblivious, faraway, dreamy, distracted, abstracted, absent-minded, absent, ditzy, unmindful, heedless, distrait, preoccupied
- Antonyms:
- mindful, thoughtful, careful
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inattentive
Explanation
Someone who's inattentive isn't paying enough attention. An inattentive lunch companion might spend the whole meal texting on his phone. Inattentive people are sometimes distracted, like an inattentive babysitter who loses track of the kids he's watching at the playground. You can also be inattentive simply through indifference or boredom — if you're inattentive at the opera, you're not paying attention to it because you're not interested in it. Inattentive tacks the "not" prefix in- onto attentive, from the Latin root attendere, "give heed to" or "stretch toward."
Vocabulary lists containing inattentive
Absent
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Absent
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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 the truly inattentive will be shocked that complications ensue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Jurors ultimately decided that Penny was not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, which “involves causing someone's death by acting in a manner that was reckless, inattentive, or careless.”
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2024
A new study calculates that exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas during childhood altered the balance of mental health in the U.S. population, making generations of Americans more depressed, anxious and inattentive or hyperactive.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2024
Both conditions can make a child seem disorganized or inattentive; in the case of NVLD, it’s because they don’t understand the assignment being discussed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024
"I see. Very well, then. It was years ago, Gabe. You were a little boy. I remember how mischievous you were in school. Sometimes inattentive."
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
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.
