Indifferent
[ɪn'dɪf(ə)r(ə)nt] or [ɪn'dɪfrənt]
Definition
(adj.) showing no care or concern in attitude or action; 'indifferent to the sufferings of others'; 'indifferent to her plea' .
(adj.) neither too great nor too little; 'a couple of indifferent hills to climb' .
(adj.) being neither good nor bad; 'an indifferent performance'; 'a gifted painter but an indifferent actor'; 'her work at the office is passable'; 'a so-so golfer'; 'feeling only so-so'; 'prepared a tolerable dinner'; 'a tolerable working knowledge of French' .
(adj.) characterized by a lack of partiality; 'a properly indifferent jury'; 'an unbiasgoted account of her family problems' .
(adj.) marked by no especial liking or dislike or preference for one thing over another; 'indifferent about which book you would give them'; 'was indifferent to their acceptance or rejection of her invitation' .
(adj.) fairly poor to not very good; 'has an indifferent singing voice'; 'has indifferent qualifications for the job' .
Inputed by Annie--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Not mal/ing a difference; having no influence or preponderating weight; involving no preference, concern, or attention; of no account; without significance or importance.
(a.) Neither particularly good, not very bad; of a middle state or quality; passable; mediocre.
(a.) Not inclined to one side, party, or choice more than to another; neutral; impartial.
(a.) Feeling no interest, anxiety, or care, respecting anything; unconcerned; inattentive; apathetic; heedless; as, to be indifferent to the welfare of one's family.
(a.) Free from bias or prejudice; impartial; unbiased; disinterested.
(adv.) To a moderate degree; passably; tolerably.
Edited by Charlene
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Neutral, impartial, disinterested, unbiassed.[2]. Unconcerned, unmoved, apathetic, cool, inattentive, dead, heedless, regardless, unmindful, not interested.[3]. Equal, all the same, just the same, all one, the same thing.[4]. Passable, tolerable, middling, ordinary, so-so, not very bad.
Edited by Kathleen
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Lukewarm, careless, unconcerned,[See APATHETIC]
Typist: Tabitha
Definition
adj. without importance: uninteresting: of a middle quality: neutral: unconcerned.—n. one who is indifferent or apathetic: that which is indifferent.—ns. Indiff′erence Indiff′erency Indiff′erentism indifference: (theol.) the doctrine that religious differences are of no moment: (metaph.) the doctrine of absolute identity—i.e. that to be in thought and to exist are one and the same thing; Indiff′erentist.—adv. Indiff′erently in an indifferent manner: tolerably: passably: without distinction impartially.
Checked by Kenneth
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Imperfectly sensible to distinctions among things.
Edited by Estelle
Examples
- It will then be publicly seen that, on both sides, we meet only as common and indifferent acquaintance. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Secondly, A certain number of sides, which are supposed indifferent. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- But (with a smile) if Colonel Campbell should have employed a careless friend, and if it should prove to have an indifferent tonewhat shall I say? Jane Austen. Emma.
- Nothing more was said on this theme, and Mr. Harthouse was soon idly gay on indifferent subjects. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- You may have a friendship for a man, while he is almost indifferent to you. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She was an altered creature, quieted, stupefied, indifferent to everything that passed. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- She was quite hard and cold and indifferent. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Thy language, answered Rowena, hath in its indifferent bluntness something which cannot be reconciled with the horrors it seems to express. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- No introduction of the business could have been less like that which Lydgate had intended; but her indifferent manner had been too provoking. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- When you and your brother are friends, his doings are indifferent to you. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Having but an indifferent opinion of women, he always suspected them. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- In his field as inventor and man of science he stands as clear-cut and secure as the lighthouse on a rock, and as indifferent to the tumult around. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Indifferent to the rain, and moving with a quick determined step, she struck into a side-path parallel with the ride. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- They sat talking on indifferent subjects for about an hour, and then drove off in his lordship's curricle. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Why, if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent, said she, did he come at all? Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Even Elizabeth began to fear--not that Bingley was indifferent--but that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- He could speak to me because I am an indifferent person. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation was consummated or not; but not so all of them. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Not a bad notion though, if you want to look indifferent in driving a bargain. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Where is the author who can be indifferent to the genuine unhackneyed praise bestowed on his own composition? Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- No, indeedyou shall be indifferent to me, as the shabbiest bouquet in your pyramid. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- And I even attempted, more than once, for my own private satisfaction, to employ his methods in their solution, though with indifferent success. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Archer had never been more indifferent to the requirements of form; but his impulse to do Lawrence Lefferts a physical injury was only momentary. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- He loved his mistress and John--the man who fed him--but was mostly indifferent to the rest of the world. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- They themselves care only for making money, and are as indifferent as the pauper to the cultivation of virtue. Plato. The Republic.
- All such circumstances were indifferent to him, so that he did his duty. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- He found the government of Spain indifferent to the railway, and there were many doubts as to whether there would be sufficient traffic to pay the cost of construction. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- He describes the boy of sixteen as engrossed intensely in his experiments and scientific reading, and somewhat indifferent, for this reason, to his duties as operator. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He lifted his eyebrows with a negligent, indifferent expression. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Edited by Estelle