insouciant

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English

WOTD – 16 August 2018

Etymology

From French insouciant, from in- (“not”, prefix) + souciant (“worrying”), 1828.

Pronunciation

Adjective

insouciant (comparative more insouciant, superlative most insouciant)

  1. Casually unconcerned; carefree, indifferent, nonchalant.
    an insouciant gesture
    • 1834, , chapter XII, in Countess of Morley , editor, Dacre: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, , →OCLC, page 220:
      "I am quite serious in saying that your loss must and would be felt; but I verily believe," added she, after a moment's hesitation, "that you are so insouciant yourself, that you cannot believe that every body else is not equally indifferent."
    • 1905, William Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXVIII, in The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 215:
      It was there [Cadiz, Spain] that on Sunday I had seen the populace disport itself, and it was full of life then, gay and insouciant.
    • 1913 August, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Christmas Harp”, in The Golden Road, Boston, Mass.: The Page Company, published April 1926, →OCLC, pages 31–32:
      When we left the Marr house, he [Peter] had boldly said to Felicity, "May I see you home?" And Felicity, much to our amazement, had taken his arm and marched off with him. […] As for me, I was consumed by a secret and burning desire to ask the Story Girl if I might see her home; but I could not screw my courage to the sticking point. How I envied Peter his easy, insouciant manner!
    • 2004 April 26, Richard Schickel, “Sean Penn: Necessary Actor”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 6 March 2008:
      […] [Jack] Nicholson turned to an assistant, bummed a cigarette, flashed one of his wolfish, insouciant grins and said, "We all have our little secrets, Seany."

Derived terms

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Translations

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “insouciant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From in- +‎ souciant, from soucier.

Pronunciation

Adjective

insouciant (feminine insouciante, masculine plural insouciants, feminine plural insouciantes)

  1. carefree, without worries
  2. uncaring
    Synonym: (more formal) insoucieux

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Anagrams

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