| English Dictionary |
INDIFFERENT
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Dictionary entry overview: What does indifferent mean?
• INDIFFERENT (adjective)
The adjective INDIFFERENT has 10 senses:
1. marked by a lack of interest
2. showing no care or concern in attitude or action
3. (usually followed by 'to') unwilling or refusing to pay heed
4. (often followed by 'to') lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other
5. fairly poor to not very good
6. having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive
7. marked by no especial liking or dislike or preference for one thing over another
8. characterized by a lack of partiality
9. being neither good nor bad
10. neither too great nor too little
Familiarity information: INDIFFERENT used as an adjective is familiar.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Marked by a lack of interest
Synonyms:
apathetic; indifferent
Context example:
the universe is neither hostile nor friendly; it is simply indifferent
Similar:
uninterested (not having or showing interest)
Derivation:
indifference (the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Showing no care or concern in attitude or action
Context example:
indifferent to her plea
Similar:
unconcerned (lacking in interest or care or feeling)
Derivation:
indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(usually followed by 'to') unwilling or refusing to pay heed
Synonyms:
deaf; indifferent
Context example:
deaf to her warnings
Similar:
heedless; unheeding (marked by or paying little heed or attention)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(often followed by 'to') lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other
Synonyms:
immaterial; indifferent
Context example:
what others think is altogether indifferent to him
Similar:
unimportant (not important)
Derivation:
indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Fairly poor to not very good
Context example:
has indifferent qualifications for the job
Similar:
inferior (of or characteristic of low rank or importance)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive
Synonyms:
Context example:
an indifferent chemical in a reaction
Similar:
unreactive ((chemistry) not reacting chemically)
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Marked by no especial liking or dislike or preference for one thing over another
Context example:
was indifferent to their acceptance or rejection of her invitation
Similar:
impartial (showing lack of favoritism)
Derivation:
indifference (the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care; a casual lack of concern)
indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Characterized by a lack of partiality
Synonyms:
indifferent; unbiased; unbiassed
Context example:
an unbiased account of her family problems
Similar:
impartial (showing lack of favoritism)
Derivation:
indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Being neither good nor bad
Synonyms:
indifferent; so-so
Context example:
a tolerable working knowledge of French
Similar:
ordinary (not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Neither too great nor too little
Context example:
a couple of indifferent hills to climb
Similar:
moderate (being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme)
Context examples
As to her family, they were totally unworthy of her, and their sentiments were utterly indifferent to him, and they might—I quote his own expression—go to the Devil.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
But (with a smile) if Colonel Campbell should have employed a careless friend, and if it should prove to have an indifferent tone—what shall I say?
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Perhaps indifferent, if indifference could exist under such circumstances.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Nothing has proved him unworthy; nor has anything declared him indifferent to me.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She studied faces in the street, and characters, good, bad, and indifferent, all about her.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I understand you—and a very proper plan it is for a person at your time of life, with such limited means and indifferent connexions.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
That I was desirous of believing her indifferent is certain—but I will venture to say that my investigation and decisions are not usually influenced by my hopes or fears.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The Movement Disorder Society version of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Over the past week, have you felt indifferent to doing activities or being with people?
(MDS-UPDRS - Apathy, NCI Thesaurus)
The forty are drunk, and the three are but indifferent sober.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
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