different between insensitive vs indifferent
insensitive
English
Etymology
in- +? sensitive
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /?n?s?ns?t?v/
Adjective
insensitive (comparative more insensitive, superlative most insensitive)
- Expressing or feeling little or no concern, care, compassion, or consideration for the feelings, emotions, sentiments, or concerns of other people; inconsiderate or incompassionate
- Not expressing normal physical feeling;
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula
- It is something like the way dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that which it would otherwise harm by contact.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula
- Not expressing normal emotional feelings; cold; tactless; undiplomatic
- 1895, Grant Allen, The British Barbarians
- Somehow, when Bertram Ingledew let it once be felt he did not wish to be questioned on any particular point, even women managed to restrain their curiosity: and he would have been either a very bold or a very insensitive man who would have ventured to continue questioning him any further.
- 1994, Jann Arden, "Insensitive" (song)
- Oh I really should have known by the time you drove me home, / By the vagueness in your eyes, your casual good-byes, / By the chill in your embrace and the expression on your face, / That told me you might have some advice to give / On how to be insensitive.
- 1895, Grant Allen, The British Barbarians
Synonyms
- unaffected
- unsensitive
Antonyms
- sensitive
Derived terms
Translations
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indifferent
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)
- 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.
- 1816, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume 2, Chapter 16,[1]
- 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.
- 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Chapter 25,[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.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 10, Chapter 9, p. 275,[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.
- 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act V, Scene 1, p. 57,[7]
- 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.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,[9]
- (mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
- (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
- c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 1,[13]
Related terms
- indifference
- indifferency (obsolete)
- indifferentism
- indifferently
Translations
Noun
indifferent (plural indifferents)
- A person who is indifferent or apathetic.
Adverb
indifferent
- (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)
- indifferent; apathetic
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