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
Derived 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.
Inattentive ball security has caused the Midshipmen’s rushing attack to suffer mightily as well.
From Washington Post • Sep. 20, 2012
Inattentive readers of movie timetables who are looking for Jim Mickle’s “Stake Land,” a recently released zombie film, but accidentally wander into “SKATELAND” are going to be perplexed.
From New York Times • May 6, 2011
Being Inattentive As any seasoned bowhunter knows, a shot at a quality animal is a precious commodity.
From Time Magazine Archive
Inattentive, or rather averse, to the welfare of his people, he found himself under the necessity of gratifying the insatiate avarice which he had excited in the army.
From History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 by Milman, Henry Hart
Inattentive to all the regards of social life, he mistimes and misplaces every thing.
From Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 The Works of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., in Nine Volumes by Johnson, Samuel
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.
