different between careless vs inconsiderate

English

Etymology

From Middle English careles, from Old English carl?as (“careless, reckless, void of care, free from care, free”), equivalent to care +? -less. Cognate with Icelandic kærulaus (“careless, negligent”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??l?s/, /?k??l?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??l?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)l?s

Adjective

careless (comparative more careless, superlative most careless)

1. Not concerned or worried (about). [from 11^thc.]

   • "He was here," observed Drina composedly, "and father was angry with him."
     "What?" exclaimed Eileen. "When?"
     "This morning, before father went downtown."
     Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina's case.

2. Not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes. [from 16^thc.]
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 49:

     I don't find the pose of careless youth charming and engaging any more than you find the pose of careworn age fascinating and eccentric, I should imagine.

3. (archaic) Free from care; unworried, without anxiety. [from 11^thc.]

   • Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:careless

Derived terms

• carelessly
• carelessness

Translations

Anagrams

• acreless, raceless, rescales

English

Etymology

From in- +? considerate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nk?n?s?d???t/, /???-/

Adjective

inconsiderate (comparative more inconsiderate, superlative most inconsiderate)

1. Not considerate of others.

   Synonyms: thoughtless, unthoughtful

   Antonyms: considerate, thoughtful

   • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Boston: John P. Jewett, Volume 1, Chapter 15, p. 241,^[1]

     “It’s very inconsiderate of you, St. Clare,” said the lady, “to insist on my talking and looking at things. You know I’ve been lying all day with the sick-headache; and there’s been such a tumult made ever since you came, I’m half dead.”

   • 1922, Willa Cather, One of Ours, New York: Knopf, Book 1, Chapter 16, pp. 89-90,^[2]

     Bayliss and his father were talking together before dinner when Claude came in and was so inconsiderate as to put up a window, though he knew his brother hated a draft.

   • 1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, New York: Knopf, Part 1, Chapter 1, p. 13,^[3]

     “Ann Landers claims drop-in visits are inconsiderate,” he said.

2. (obsolete) Not giving enough consideration to one's actions, conclusions, etc.; acting too quickly without considering the risks and consequences.

   Synonyms: hasty, inattentive, rash, unreflecting

   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act II, Scene 1,^[4]

     And all the unsettled humours of the land,

     Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries, […]

     Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,

     Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,

     To make hazard of new fortunes here:

   • 1689, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, London: Thomas Basset, Book 1, Chapter 4, § 15, p. 32,^[5]

     […] the wise and considerate Men of the World, by a right and careful employment of their Thoughts, and Reason, attained true Notions in this, as well as other things; whilst the lazy and inconsiderate part of Men, making the far greater number, took up their Notions, by chance, from common Tradition, and vulgar Conceptions, without much beating their heads about them.

   • 1709, Aaron Hill, A Full and Just Account of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire, London: for the author, Chapter 7, p. 51,^[6]

     They Pray with Fervour and a fix’d, Attention, never turning like too many Inconsiderate Christians in our Noisy Churches, to behold what People pass behind them;

   • 1777, William Hutchinson, A Treatise on Practical Seamanship, Liverpool: for the author, p. 137,^[7]

     […] the most danger is from those inconsiderate and unexperienced pilots, who think a ship may be managed and conducted with equal ease and safety among shoals, as their own small vessels to which they have been accustomed,

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, London: John Murray, Volume 1, Chapter 8, p. 141,^[8]

     […] Mr. Elton might not be of an imprudent, inconsiderate disposition as to money-matters; he might naturally be rather attentive than otherwise to them;

3. (obsolete) Resulting from insufficient consideration.

   Synonym: unconsidered

   • 1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierces Supererogation or A New Prayse of the Old Asse, London: John Wolfe, p. 175,^[9]

     I am ouer-ready to pardon young ouersights, and forgiue inconsiderate offences:

   • 1665, Robert Boyle, New Experiments and Observations Touching Cold, London: John Crook, The Authors Preface Introductory,^[10]

     And having given us this inconsiderate Description of Cold, they [the Classick Authors] commonly take leave of the subject, as if it deserved no further handling, then could be afforded it in a few Lines,

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, London, Volume 7, Letter 78, p. 267,^[11]

     […] to such a choice are many worthy women betrayed, by that false and inconsiderate notion, raised and propagated, no doubt, by the author of all delusion, That a reformed Rake makes the best husband.

   • 1791, Charlotte Lennox, Hermione, London: William Lane, Volume 4, Letter 20, p. 65,^[12]

     Do me not the injustice to imagine I now require any particulars to convince me of your innocence, and of my own inconsiderate conclusions.

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1859, Volume 2, Chapter 6, p. 83,^[13]

     Charlotte Stanhope did not in the least conceive that her new friend was a woman whom nothing could entrap into an inconsiderate marriage […]

4. (obsolete) Of too little value to be considered.

   Synonyms: inconsiderable, negligible, trifling

   • 1655, Edward Terry, A Voyage to East-India, London: J. Martin and J. Allestrye, pp. 15-16,^[14]

     […] when they had sold any one of their bullooks to us, for a little inconsiderate peece of brasse, if we did not presently knock him down, they would by the same call, make the poor creature break from us and run unto them again, and then there was no getting them out of their hands, but by giving them more brasse,

   • 1682, Aphra Behn, The Roundheads or, The Good Old Cause, London: D. Brown et al., Act III, Scene 1, p. 27,^[15]

     […] to wrest the Law to our convenience

     Is no small, inconsiderate Work?

Related terms

Translations

See also

• tactless
• thoughtless

Anagrams

• containerised, inter-diocesan

Italian

Adjective

inconsiderate

1. feminine plural of inconsiderato

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /in.kon.si?.de?ra?.te/, [??kõ?s?i?d????ä?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in.kon.si.de?ra.te/, [i?k?nsid??????t??]

Adjective

inc?ns?der?te

1. vocative masculine singular of inc?ns?der?tus

References

• inconsiderate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• inconsiderate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inconsiderate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette