different between serene vs indifferent

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s???i?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s???in/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin ser?nus (“clear, cloudless, untroubled”).

Adjective

serene (comparative more serene or serener, superlative most serene or serenest)

1. Peaceful, calm, unruffled.
2. Without worry or anxiety; unaffected by disturbance.
3. (archaic) fair and unclouded (as of the sky); clear; unobscured.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a gem of purest ray serene / The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
4. Used as part of certain titles, originally to indicate sovereignty or independence.

Related terms

• all serene
• serenity

Translations

Verb

serene (third-person singular simple present serenes, present participle serening, simple past and past participle serened)

1. (transitive) To make serene.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. (poetic) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer

     the serene of heaven

   • 1742, Edward Young, Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality

     To their master is denied / To share their sweet serene.

2. Evening air; night chill.

   • Some serene blast me.

Etymology 2

Old French serein (“evening”), Vulgar Latin *ser?num (from substantive use of s?rum, neuter of s?rus (“late”)) + -?nus suffix.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. A fine rain from a cloudless sky after sunset.

Synonyms

• serein

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. serein n. 1.

Anagrams

• reseen, resene

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

serene

1. Inflected form of sereen

Esperanto

Etymology

serena +? -e

Adverb

serene

1. calmly, serenely

Italian

Adjective

serene

1. feminine plural of sereno

Latin

Etymology 1

From ser?nus +? -?.

Adverb

ser?n? (comparative ser?nius, superlative ser?nissim?)

1. clearly, brightly

Etymology 2

Adjective

ser?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of ser?nus

References

• serene in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

serene

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of serenar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of serenar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of serenar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of serenar

Spanish

Verb

serene

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of serenar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of serenar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of serenar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of serenar.

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