Careless Meaning
/ˈkɛəlɪs/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot concerned or worried (about).
adjNot giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes.
Sentence Examples
You were careless in your action.
It was careless of you to lose the key.
Careless use of the clutch may damage the gears.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because he was so ____ with his phone, he dropped it in the lake and it stopped working.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her ____ spelling led to many errors in the long final report tonight.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r-der. Proto-Germanic *karō Proto-West Germanic *karu Old English caru Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Old English carlēas Middle English careles English careless From Middle English careles, from Old English carlēas (“careless, reckless, void of care, free from care, free”), equivalent to care + -less. Cognate with Icelandic kærulaus (“careless, negligent”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""He was here," observed Drina composedly, "and father was angry with him."
"What?" exclaimed Eileen. "When?"
"This morning, before father went downtown."
Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina's case."
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"These ballads, none of which are later than the fifteenth century, are written in a strain of the most artless simplicity, not the slightest attempt at ornament is to be discerned in them; the same ideas and expressions continually recur, and the rimes are the most careless imaginable, often a mere assonnance in vowels or consonants, sometimes not possessing even that slight similarity of sound."
— 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 132:
"I don't find the pose of careless youth charming and engaging any more than you find the pose of careworn age fascinating and eccentric, I should imagine."
— 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 35:
"Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests."
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 27, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because he was so ____ with his phone, he dropped it in the lake and it stopped working.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her ____ spelling led to many errors in the long final report tonight.