careless
adjective
Simple meaning
Not giving sufficient attention or thought.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kehrluhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɛɹləs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes.
Not concerned or worried (about).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes.
Used this way, careless is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- offhanded , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use careless
- “Careless about her clothes.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The particular occupation for which you are trained.
Exercising caution or showing care or attention.
Taking care or paying attention.
Without care or concern.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.