indifferent

English

Etymology

From Old French indifferent, from Latin indifferens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɪf.ɹənt/, /ɪnˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: in‧dif‧fer‧ent

Adjective

indifferent (comparative more indifferent, superlative most indifferent)

2. 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 XVI, in Emma: , volume II, London: for John Murray, →OCLC:

     “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 III, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz , →OCLC:

     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.

4. Indicating or reflecting a lack of concern or care.

   Synonyms: laid-back, pococurante; see also Thesaurus:carefree

   She responded with an indifferent shrug.

   • 1886 May, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXV, in The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character. , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., , →OCLC:

     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.

6. 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, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC, 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 III, 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, page 84:

     [T]he 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.

8. Having no preference.

   I am indifferent between the two plans.

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 57:

     Let Guilt or Fear / Disturb Man’s Rest: Cato knows neither of ’em, / Indiff’rent in his Choice to sleep or die.

   • 1933 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Intellectual Antagonism to the Modern State”, in The Shape of Things to Come, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, 3rd book (The World Renascence: The Birth of the Modern State), page 302:

     The scientific worker aims at knowledge and is quite indifferent whether people like or dislike the knowledge he produces.

10. (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 […]"

12. 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      […] 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, section 6, page 146:

      [E]very thing in the world is indifferent but sin.

    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, 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.

14. (mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
16. (obsolete) Not different, matching.

    Synonyms: identical, undifferentiated; see also Thesaurus:identical

    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      […] 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

Noun

indifferent (plural indifferents)

1. A person who is indifferent or apathetic.

Adverb

indifferent

1. (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.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke:  (Second Quarto), London: I R for N L , published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature G3, verso:

     Get thee [to] a Nunry, why wouldst thou be a breeder of ſinners, I am my ſelfe indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse mee of ſuch things, that it were better my Mother had not bourne mee […]

2. (obsolete) Without distinction or preference for some over others.
   • 1593, anonymous author, 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

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “indifferent”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Middle French

Adjective

indifferent m (feminine singular indifferente, masculine plural indifferents, feminine plural indifferentes)

1. indifferent; apathetic