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care·less
 careless
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- pronunciation:
- ker
lihs
- features:
- Word Combinations (adjective), Word Explorer, Word Parts
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
not cautious or attentive enough; negligent (often fol. by "with," "about," or "in").
He's still a careless driver even after receiving numerous traffic tickets.If I hadn't been so careless with my phone, I wouldn't have lost it.You shouldn't be so careless about where you walk at night.I was careless in saying that, and now I think I'm in trouble with the boss.- synonyms:
- inattentive, neglectful, negligent, remiss
- antonyms:
- attentive, careful, deliberate, exact
- similar words:
- cavalier, derelict, harum-scarum, imprudent, inadvertent, incautious, lax, mindless, off guard, perfunctory, rash, reckless, slack, slipshod, thoughtless, unwise, vagabond
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| definition 2: |
imprecise or incomplete.
They did a careless job of painting and got a lot of paint on the floor and the woodwork.- synonyms:
- imprecise, incomplete, perfunctory, sloppy
- antonyms:
- careful, meticulous, scrupulous, thorough
- similar words:
- hit-or-miss, inferior, messy, slapdash, slipshod, slovenly, unfinished
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| definition 3: |
marked or caused by lack of forethought or consideration.
Some careless errors on her resume made a bad impression on the job interviewer.Just a few careless words can damage a friendship.- synonyms:
- inadvertent, offhand, thoughtless, unthinking
- antonyms:
- diligent, thoughtful
- similar words:
- accidental, casual, cavalier, glib, ill-advised, lax, unintentional, unplanned, unwitting
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| definition 4: |
unconcerned; indifferent (usu. fol. by "of", "in," or "about").
He was careless of his sister's feelings when he said those things.The nurse was cold and careless in the way she spoke to my father.He'd always been a bit careless about the impression he made on other people.- synonyms:
- casual, inattentive, inconsiderate, indifferent, perfunctory, thoughtless, unconcerned, unthinking
- antonyms:
- careful, considerate, precise, punctilious, studious, thoughtful
- similar words:
- cavalier, devil-may-care, flippant, heedless, impolite, lackadaisical, lax, negligent, rude, slack, tactless, uncivil, unmindful
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| definition 5: |
effortless; natural.
I envied her careless poise.- synonyms:
- casual, easy, effortless, natural
- similar words:
- free and easy, spontaneous, unaffected
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| related words: |
blithe, cursory, fast, foolish, haphazard, inaccurate, irresponsible, loose, lousy, nonchalant, oblivious, precipitate, ragged, shabby, snap, truant |
adverb + (adj.)careless
extremely, little, occasionally, seemingly, seldom, sometimes
(adj.)careless
+ noun
abandon,
appearance,
camper,
cigarette,
destruction,
disposal,
disregard,
dress,
driver,
driving,
ease,
error,
garbage,
gesture,
grin,
habit,
handling,
human,
hygiene,
joy,
love,
manner,
misstep,
mistake,
move,
omission,
oversight,
pass,
placement,
rapture,
reader,
remark,
reporting,
shrug,
smoking,
spending,
swing,
unmaking,
whisper
[See all][See only the most frequent]
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| derivations: |
carelessly (adv.), carelessness (n.) |
The word careless
contains the following part:
-less
Middle English
adjective-forming suffix
that means without
  More about this word part:
The suffix -less
attaches primarily to monosyllabic English nouns. However, -less
is a fully productive suffix, meaning it can be added to any noun to form legitimate new words.
Example words:
aimless, airless, baseless, blameless, bloodless, boneless, bodiless, bottomless, boundless, brainless, breathless, careless, cheerless, colorless, cordless, countless, dauntless, doubtless, endless, fatherless, fearless, feckless, flawless, formless, graceless, groundless, heartless, helpless, homeless, hopeless, jobless, joyless, listless, matchless, merciless, mindless, motionless, nameless, painless, peerless, penniless, pitiless, pointless, powerless, priceless, regardless, relentless, restless, selfless, sightless, soundless1, spotless, stainless, strapless, sunless, tasteless, thoughtless, tireless, useless, wireless, weightless, worthless
- synonyms:
- a-1, an-1
- antonyms:
- -ful1
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