indifference
Americannoun
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lack of interest or concern.
We were shocked by their indifference toward poverty.
- Antonyms:
- responsiveness, eagerness
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unimportance; little or no concern.
Whether or not to attend the party is a matter of indifference to him.
-
the quality or condition of being indifferent.
-
mediocre quality; mediocrity.
-
Baseball. the absence of effort by the defense to prevent a stolen base.
For the second time this inning, a Brewer has taken second base on indifference.
noun
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the fact or state of being indifferent; lack of care or concern
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lack of quality; mediocrity
-
lack of importance; insignificance
Related Words
Indifference, unconcern, listlessness, apathy, insensibility all imply lack of feeling. Indifference denotes an absence of feeling or interest; unconcern, an absence of concern or solicitude, a calm or cool indifference in the face of what might be expected to cause uneasiness or apprehension; listlessness, an absence of inclination or interest, a languid indifference to what is going on about one; apathy, a profound intellectual and emotional indifference suggestive of faculties either naturally sluggish or dulled by emotional disturbance, mental illness, or prolonged sickness; insensibility, an absence of capacity for feeling or of susceptibility to emotional influences.
Other Word Forms
- superindifference noun
Etymology
Origin of indifference
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, variant of indifferency, from Latin indifferentia; indifferent, -ence, -ency
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.
Treasury curve has taken a “bull steepening” shape that reflects bets on deeper Fed rate cuts and an indifference to inflation risks heading into 2026.
From Barron's
Families feel isolated due to increasingly restrictive border policies and controls in Europe, general indifference and the criminalisation of migrants.
From Barron's
AI-generated entertainment content ultimately fails to engage audiences authentically because viewers seek human creativity and connection, which AI cannot replicate beyond superficial imitation, suggesting the problem may self-correct through consumer indifference rather than intentional resistance.
From Los Angeles Times
There has been "a culture of indifference towards safeguarding" at one of Northern Ireland's biggest and best-known churches, according to a critical report seen by BBC News NI.
From BBC
“This was a period in English culture before blackness acquired its fatal association with slavery,” he writes, identifying a “certain strain of indifference to color” in the thinking of the time.
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.
