Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having no particular interest or concern; apathetic: indifferent to the sufferings of others.
- adj. Having no marked feeling for or against: She remained indifferent toward their proposal.
- adj. Not mattering one way or the other: It's indifferent to me which outfit you choose.
- adj. Characterized by a lack of partiality; unbiased: an indifferent judge.
- adj. Being neither too much nor too little; moderate.
- adj. Being neither good nor bad; mediocre: an indifferent performance. See Synonyms at average.
- adj. Being neither right nor wrong.
- adj. Not active or involved; neutral: an indifferent chemical in a reaction.
- adj. Biology Undifferentiated, as cells or tissue.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Without difference of inclination; not preferring one person or thing to another; neutral; impartial; unbiased; disinterested: as, an indifferent judge, juror, or arbitrator.
- Feeling no interest, anxiety, or care; unconcerned; apathetic: as, a man indifferent to his eternal welfare.
- Not making a difference; having no influence or preponderating weight; immaterial; of no account: as, it is indifferent which road we take.
- Regarded without difference of feeling; not exciting special interest; uninteresting.
- Falling short of any standard of excellence; of common or mediocre quality or kind; only passable or tolerable; ordinary.
- In biology, undifferentiated; primitive; common; not specialized.
- n. One who is indifferent or apathetic.
- n. That which is indifferent or an object of indifference; that which affords no decisive ground of choice.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not caring or concerned; uninterested, apathetic.
- adj. Mediocre, usually used negatively in modern usage.
- adj. Having no preference or bias, being impartial.
- adj. Not significant in size or amount, immaterial.
- adj. mechanics Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
- adv. obsolete To some extent, in some degree (intermediate between very and not at all); moderately, tolerably, fairly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not making a difference; having no influence or preponderating weight; involving no preference, concern, or attention; of no account; without significance or importance.
- adj. Neither particularly good, not very bad; of a middle state or quality; passable; mediocre.
- adj. Not inclined to one side, party, or choice more than to another; neutral; impartial.
- adj. Feeling no interest, anxiety, or care, respecting anything; unconcerned; inattentive; apathetic; heedless.
- adj. (Law) Free from bias or prejudice; impartial; unbiased; disinterested.
- adv. obsolete To a moderate degree; passably; tolerably.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive
- adj. being neither good nor bad
- adj. marked by no especial liking or dislike or preference for one thing over another
- adj. fairly poor to not very good
- adj. characterized by a lack of partiality
- adj. neither too great nor too little
- adj. (often followed by `to') lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other
- adj. showing no care or concern in attitude or action
- adj. marked by a lack of interest
- adj. (usually followed by `to') unwilling or refusing to pay heed
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin indifferēns, indifferent- : in-, not; see in-1 + differēns, different; see different. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“IV. i.93 (416,7) [garters of an indifferent knit] What is the sense of this I know not, unless it means, that their _garters_ should be _fellows_; _indifferent_, or _not different_, one from the other.”
“For there being, says he, in Nature some things good, some things bad, and some things between them both, which we call indifferent; there is no man but would rather have the good than the indifferent, and the indifferent than the bad.”
“The PAC also expressed concern about what it termed the indifferent manner in which the national and provincial departments of safety and security were treating the "legitimate grievances" of police personnel in Transkei.”
“The Church cannot remain indifferent before the separation and divorce of couples", Pope Benedict cried, "before the break-up of homes and the repercussions on children, who need extremely precise points of reference for their instruction and education: in other words determined and confident parents who participate in their upbringing".”
“No one has been able to remain indifferent to such a monumental slip of the tongue.”
The Huffington Post: Yoani Sanchez: Fidel's Words Continue to Echo... Bitterly
“One thing I guarantee: it will be hard to remain indifferent after meeting Anthony, Daisy, Emily, Francisco and Bianca.”
The Huffington Post: Jasmine Boussem: Is the Wait for 'Superman' Over?
“The health care law, whether good, bad, or indifferent, is the law precisely because our constitution allows our representatives to behave undemocratically if they prefer.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Originalism and Linguistic Questions
“Most people remain indifferent to the process by which objects in our daily lives are manufactured, and have just as little curiosity about where things go once they are discarded.”
“Like them, hate them, or remain indifferent to them, they have had a considerable impact on modern culture.”
“As long as the American sheeple remain indifferent to events done around the world via their tax-appropriated money and continue to watch American Idol it will be more of the same.”
In these tough times at least people are still buying missiles « Antiwar.com Blog
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘indifferent’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Vocab.5
adequate, administer, agitate, capitulate, citrus, disrupt, hovel, illiterate, indifferent, menial, permanent, respite and 3 more...
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GRE Readings
sophistry, religious, venture, touching, slander, rotunda, singular, spurious, rhetoric, virtue, temper, tardy and 133 more...
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Vocab5
adequate, administer, agitate, capitulate, citrus, disrupt, hovel, illiterate, indifferent, menial, permanent, respite and 3 more...
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Hit Parade GRE
Princeton Review words
abscond, aberrant, alacrity, anomaly, approbation, arduous, assuage, audacious, austere, axiomatic, canonical, capricious and 287 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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nail01
sentimental, eloquent, inevitable, pretentious, verbose, aptly, stoically, grandiloquent, valedictory, assiduous, exorbitant, wreaked and 154 more...
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Expressions
(Facial)
pained, pitiful, reproachful, annoyed, dismissive, excited, eager, spiteful, contemptuous, passive, calm, nervous and 155 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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SAT
abandon,extreme e..., abash,to humiliate, abate,to lessen, abbreviate,to sho..., abridge, abdicate,to forma..., aberration,depart..., abnormality, abet,to encourage, abhor,to hate, abide,to follow o..., abject,utterly ho... and 2228 more...
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT PT #5 (new bk)
inane, scrutinze, attended, testify to, jeopardize, sustain, plentiful, ornate, multifarious, catalogue, anachronistic, extrapolate and 89 more...
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SAT
abandon,extreme e..., dispensing of all..., abash,to humiliate, abate,to lessen, abbreviate,to sho..., abridge, abdicate,to forma..., aberration,depart..., abnormality, abet,to encourage, abhor,to hate, abide,to follow o... and 2229 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for indifferent.

FelixSoho Marcel Duchamp redefined art in the 20th century based on his indifference to objects Dec 31, 2011