different between risky vs reckless

English

Etymology

risk +? -y

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???ski/
• Rhymes: -?ski

Adjective

risky (comparative riskier, superlative riskiest)

1. Dangerous, involving risks.

   Investing in this start-up company could be risky.

2. Misspelling of risqué.
   • 2012, Marlize Schmidt, That Awkward Moment..., Lulu Press, Inc (?ISBN)

     That awkward moment when someone doesn't reply to your risky text message.

   • 1889, Charles Leonard Moore, Banquet of Palacios: A Comedy, page 157:

     Have you no risky songs , no indecent ballads?

   • 2020, B. Barrett-Lennard, Mind Control Through the Mass Media: Transmission of the Politics of Inequality, B. Barrett-Lennard (?ISBN)

     Ronald Frankau (pronounced Franco) wrote a few risky songs, such as FANNY'S BEEN EVACUATED NOW with the line “and for half a pound of butter, well a lady's got to eat” ~ he got banned for it.

Synonyms

• hazardous, dangerous, perilous

Antonyms

• riskless, safe, secure

Related terms

• risk
• riskily
• riskiness
• risqué

Translations

Anagrams

• yirks

English

Alternative forms

• rechless, retchless (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English rekles, reckeles, rekkeles, (also recheles), from Old English r?cel?as (“reckless, careless, negligent”), equivalent to reck +? -less. Cognate with West Frisian roekeleas (“reckless”), Dutch roekeloos (“reckless”), German Low German ruuklos (“careless”), German ruchlos (“careless, notorious”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???kl?s/

Adjective

reckless (comparative recklesser or more reckless, superlative recklessest or most reckless)

1. Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash.
2. Indifferent to danger or the consequences.

Antonyms

• reckful

Derived terms

• recklessness

Translations

Anagrams

• clerkess