indiscreet
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- indiscreetly adverb
- indiscreetness noun
Etymology
Origin of indiscreet
1375–1425; late Middle English indiscret (probably < Middle French ) < Latin indiscrētus undivided; indiscrete
Explanation
Someone indiscreet lacks discretion and doesn’t know when to keep things on the down low. Going to see your ex-girlfriend’s band with your new girlfriend would be indiscreet. An indiscreet person would blab your secrets to everyone. An indiscreet person is loud, inappropriate, and thoughtless. While being discreet implies caution, being indiscreet is wild and careless. An indiscreet boss will correct your mistake in front of everyone, humiliating you. If you commit a crime and are indiscreet by running from a bank robbery with marked bills flying out of your pocket, you’re much more likely to get caught.
Vocabulary lists containing indiscreet
Bill Withers (1938–2020) Tribute List
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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
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Mara, Daughter of the Nile
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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.
The tone of the messages from this time is often jokey and indiscreet, occasionally veering into excruciatingly frank.
From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026
Her essential judgments on persons and events, as quoted, make her look wise and perceptive, which is her general reputation, but she was also indiscreet.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
So he put it on her forehead instead, but it trickled onto her nose, where it would have been indiscreet to wipe it away, however much it may have tickled.
From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2023
He disliked indiscreet people and rarely betrayed a confidence, even to his diary — and thus those diaries, published now under the title “Madly, Deeply,” are fantastically dull.
From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2022
“You mean politics? Well, every time the Governor’s indiscreet it hits the tabloids, but beyond that, nothing.”
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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.
