indifferent
See also: indifférent and indiffèrent
English
Etymology
From Old French indifferent, from Latin indifferens.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪnˈdɪf.ɹənt/, /ɪnˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: in‧dif‧fer‧ent
Adjective
indifferent (comparative more indifferent, superlative most indifferent)
- Ambivalent; unconcerned; uninterested, apathetic.
- Synonyms: insouciant, nonchalant; see also Thesaurus:apathetic
- He was indifferent to the proposal, since it didn’t affect him, either way.
- 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 16, in Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II or III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, OCLC 1708336:
- “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 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 3, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], OCLC 2603818:
- 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.
- Indicating or reflecting a lack of concern or care.
- Synonyms: laid-back, pococurante; see also Thesaurus:carefree
- She responded with an indifferent shrug.
- 1886, Thomas Hardy, “Chapter 25”, in The Mayor of Casterbridge:
- Donald appeared not to see her at all, and answered her wise little remarks with curtly indifferent monosyllables […]
- 1953, James Baldwin, “Gabriel’s Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (A Laurel Book), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Co., published December 1985, →ISBN, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints), pages 122–123:
- Then she shrugged, the mildest, most indifferent gesture he had ever seen, and smiled.
- 1990, J. M. Coetzee, Age of Iron, London: Secker & Warburg, page 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.
- Mediocre (usually used negatively in modern usage).
- Synonyms: lackluster, ordinary; see also Thesaurus:mediocre
- The long distance and the indifferent roads made the journey impossible.
- The performance of Blue Jays has been indifferent this season.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 9, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book 10, page 275:
- 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], chapter 3, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 991895633, page 84:
- […] the state-rooms are unaired, and in indifferent order, since of late years.
- 1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, Part 2, page 252:
- 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.
- Having no preference.
- I am indifferent between the two plans.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, OCLC 79426475, (please specify the page):Act V, Scene 1, p. 57,
- […] 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:
- The scientific worker aims at knowledge and is quite indifferent whether people like or dislike the knowledge he produces.
- (dated) Unbiased, impartial, judging fairly.
- Synonym: see disinterested § Synonyms
- 1955, Bernard Bailyn, The New England Merchants In The Seventeenth Century, Harvard University Press, page 48:
- On October 7, 1640, the Massachusetts General Court attempted to solve the problem by a law stating that property seized for debts was to be assessed "at such prizes [prices] as the same shalbee valewed [shall be valued] at by 3 understanding and indifferent men, to bee chosen, the one by the creditor, another by the debtor, and the third by the marshall […]"
- Not making a difference; without significance or importance.
- Synonyms: negligible, unimportant; see also Thesaurus:insignificant
- Even if one appliance consumes an indifferent amount of energy when left on stand-by overnight, together they can represent 10% of the electricity demand of a household.
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:
- […] But I am arm’d,
And dangers are to me indifferent.
- 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Contentedness”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], OCLC 1203220866, section 6, page 146:
- […] every thing in the world is indifferent but sin.
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, OCLC 223202227, page 162:
- 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, “Chapter 28”, in The Last of the Wine, New York: Modern Library, page 374:
- We talked of indifferent things, and watched the juggler who was tossing torches in the Stadium, for twilight was falling.
- (mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
- (obsolete) Not different, matching.
- Synonyms: identical, undifferentiated; see also Thesaurus:identical
- c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- […] 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
not caring
|
mediocre, usually used negatively
|
having no preference
|
not significant
|
mechanics: being in neutral equilibrium
|
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.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:moderately
- The face of the Moon appearing to me to be full of indifferent high mountains.
- (obsolete) Without distinction or preference for some over others.
- 1593, anonymous, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III:
- Newton. My Maſters, you that be the chiefeſt of the rout,
The King intreats you kindly here by me,
To come and ſpeake with him a word or two.
Iacke Straw. Sirra, if the King would any thinge with vs,
Tell him the way is indifferent to meete vs.
Newton. You are too many to be talkt with all, […]
-
Usage notes
- Now obsolete, but very common c. 1600-1730.
References
- “indifferent”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.
Middle French
Adjective
indifferent m (feminine singular indifferente, masculine plural indifferents, feminine plural indifferentes)
- indifferent; apathetic