indiscriminate
Americanadjective
-
not discriminating or discerning; lacking in care, judgment, selectivity, etc..
indiscriminate in one's friendships.
-
done at random or without making distinctions; haphazard.
indiscriminate slaughter.
-
not kept apart or divided; thrown together; jumbled.
an indiscriminate combination of colors and styles.
- Synonyms:
- varied, motley, mixed, heterogeneous, random
adjective
-
lacking discrimination or careful choice; random or promiscuous
-
jumbled; confused
Related Words
See miscellaneous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of indiscriminate
First recorded in 1590–1600; in- 3 + discriminate (adjective)
Explanation
Nuclear bombs are indiscriminate, as are earthquakes. They affect everyone in their path rather than picking or choosing. When something is indiscriminate, it makes no fine distinctions. A dog who eats everything could be said to have indiscriminate taste. If you walk into a store and buy the first pair of pants in your size, no matter what they look like, you are an indiscriminate shopper. Usually though, you'll hear the word used to describe violent acts or natural events because these things do not have a specific target. They affect all people without considering the differences in their lives.
Vocabulary lists containing indiscriminate
This Week in Words: October 28 - November 2, 2018
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
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The Federalist Papers, No. 1 by Alexander Hamilton
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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.
Indiscriminate “scraping” of photos from the internet used for biometric matching and facial recognition is also a no-no.
From Seattle Times • May 8, 2023
Indiscriminate use of antibiotics results in the population decline of resistant bacteria like MRSA.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
Indiscriminate slaughter of sacred cows also seems like poor politics, destined to alienate even those sympathetic with reinterpretations of American history.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2021
Indiscriminate handouts, say group representatives, might create friction with local people and disrupt animals’ routines.
From Nature • Jan. 23, 2018
Indiscriminate in taste, the mariposas flittered over cultivated gardens as happily as they danced over thorn-ridden lots and neglected fields.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
