different between indifferent vs mobile

English

Etymology

From Old French indifferent, from Latin indifferens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?d?f.??nt/, /?n?d?f.?.??nt/
• Hyphenation: in?dif?fer?ent

Adjective

indifferent (comparative more indifferent, superlative most indifferent)

1. Not caring or concerned; uninterested, apathetic.
   • 1816, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume 2, Chapter 16,^[1]

     “I must not hope to be ever situated as you are, in the midst of every dearest connexion, and therefore I cannot expect that simply growing older should make me indifferent about letters.”

     “Indifferent! Oh! no—I never conceived you could become indifferent. Letters are no matter of indifference; they are generally a very positive curse.”

   • 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Chapter 3,^[2]

     When you have a hundred francs in the world you are liable to the most craven panics. When you have only three francs you are quite indifferent; for three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than that. You are bored, but you are not afraid.

2. Indicating or reflecting a lack of concern or care.
   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Chapter 25,^[3]

     Donald appeared not to see her at all, and answered her wise little remarks with curtly indifferent monosyllables […]

   • 1990, J. M. Coetzee, Age of Iron, London: Secker & Warburg, p. 33,

     ‘Wonderful, Florence,’ I said, producing the ritual phrases: ‘I don’t know what I would do without you.’ But of course I do know. I would sink into the indifferent squalor of old age.

3. Mediocre (usually used negatively in modern usage).
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 10, Chapter 9, p. 275,^[4]

     When Mrs. Honour had made her Report from the Landlord, Sophia, with much Difficulty, procured some indifferent Horses, which brought her to the Inn, where Jones had been confined rather by the Misfortune of meeting with a Surgeon, than by having met with a broken Head.

   • 1826, Walter Scott, Woodstock, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, Volume I, Chapter 3, p. 84,^[5]

     […] the state-rooms are unaired, and in indifferent order, since of late years.

   • 1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, Part 2, p. 252,^[6]

     Suddenly Barbara remembered the party where she had first met Ruth Gardnor with her husband. The night of the dinner party. And the cello: it had been an indifferent performance.

4. Having no preference or bias, being impartial.
   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act V, Scene 1, p. 57,^[7]

     […] Let Guilt or Fear

     Disturb Man’s Rest: Cato knows neither of ’em,

     Indiff’rent in his Choice to sleep or die.

   • 1933, H. G. Wells, The Shape of Things to Come, Book 3, Part 7,^[8]

     The scientific worker aims at knowledge and is quite indifferent whether people like or dislike the knowledge he produces.

5. Not making a difference; without significance or importance.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[9]

     […] But I am arm’d,

     And dangers are to me indifferent.

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Contentedness” in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 8th edition, London: Richard Royston, 1668, Chapter 2, Section 6, p. 118,^[10]

     […] every thing in the world is indifferent but sin.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, p. 162,^[11]

     His gestures, his gait, his grizzled beard, his slightest and most indifferent acts, the very fashion of his garments, were odious in the clergyman’s sight;

   • 1956, Mary Renault, The Last of the Wine, New York: Modern Library, Chapter 28, p. 374,^[12]

     We talked of indifferent things, and watched the juggler who was tossing torches in the Stadium, for twilight was falling.

6. (mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
7. (obsolete) Not different, matching.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 1,^[13]

     […] let their heads be sleekly comb’d, their blue coats brush’d and their garters of an indifferent knit

Related terms

• indifference
• indifferency (obsolete)
• indifferentism
• indifferently

Translations

Noun

indifferent (plural indifferents)

1. A person who is indifferent or apathetic.

Adverb

indifferent

1. (obsolete) To some extent, in some degree (intermediate between very and not at all); moderately, tolerably, fairly.

Usage notes

• Now obsolete, but very common c. 1600-1730.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “indifferent”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Middle French

Adjective

indifferent m (feminine singular indifferente, masculine plural indifferents, feminine plural indifferentes)

1. indifferent; apathetic

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin m?bilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from move? (“move”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??ba?l/, /?m??b??l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?mo?b?l/, /?mo?bil/, /?mo?ba?l/, sculpture always IPA^(key): /?mo?bil/

Adjective

mobile (comparative more mobile, superlative most mobile)

1. Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.

   Antonyms: fixed, immobile, sessile, stationary

2. Pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones.
3. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom.

4. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle.

   Synonyms: excitable, fickle

5. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind.

6. (biology) Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

mobile (plural mobiles)

2. (art) A kinetic sculpture or decorative arrangement made of items hanging so that they can move independently from each other.
4. (telephony, Britain) Ellipsis of mobile phone

   Synonym: cell phone
5. (uncountable, Internet) The internet accessed via mobile devices.

6. Something that can move.

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• mobile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mobile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• mobile at OneLook Dictionary Search
• mobile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile phone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile (sculpture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• bemoil, emboil, emboli

Danish

Adjective

mobile

1. definite of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Finnish

Etymology

< English mobile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mobile/, [?mo?bile?] (nalle-type declension)
• IPA^(key): /?mobile?/, [?mo?bile?(?)] (hame-type declension)
• Rhymes: -obile
• Syllabification: mo?bi?le

Noun

mobile

1. mobile (kinetic sculpture)

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin m?bilis. Doublet of meuble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?.bil/

Adjective

mobile (plural mobiles)

1. mobile
2. moving
3. movable

Derived terms

Noun

mobile m (plural mobiles)

1. (physics) moving body
2. mobile (decoration)
3. motive (for an action, for a crime)
4. mobile phone; Ellipsis of téléphone mobile

   Synonyms: cell, téléphone cellulaire, cellulaire, téléphone mobile, téléphone portable, portable

Further reading

• “mobile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

mobile

1. inflection of mobil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin m?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?.bi.le/
• Rhymes: -?bile

Adjective

mobile (plural mobili)

1. movable, mobile

   Antonym: immobile

2. moving

Noun

mobile m (plural mobili)

1. (in the singular) piece of furniture (item of furniture)
2. (in the plural) furniture

   Synonyms: mobilia, mobilio, arredamento

3. (heraldry) charge
4. mobile (cellular phone)

   Synonyms: cellulare, telefonino

   Antonym: fisso

Related terms

Anagrams

• emboli

Latin

Adjective

m?bile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of m?bilis

References

• mobile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Swedish

Adjective

mobile

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of mobil.