CARELESSNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does carelessness mean? 

• CARELESSNESS (noun)
  The noun CARELESSNESS has 2 senses:

1. the quality of not being careful or taking pains

2. failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances

  Familiarity information: CARELESSNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARELESSNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of not being careful or taking pains

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

carelessness; sloppiness

Hypernyms ("carelessness" is a kind of...):

inattentiveness (the trait of not being considerate and thoughtful of others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "carelessness"):

incaution; incautiousness (the trait of forgetting or ignoring possible danger)

neglect; neglectfulness; negligence (the trait of neglecting responsibilities and lacking concern)

unconscientiousness (the trait of not being painstaking or careful)

Antonym:

carefulness (the quality of being careful and painstaking)

Derivation:

careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)

careless ((usually followed by 'of') without due thought or consideration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carelessness; neglect; negligence; nonperformance

Hypernyms ("carelessness" is a kind of...):

nonaccomplishment; nonachievement (an act that does not achieve its intended goal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "carelessness"):

dereliction (willful negligence)

comparative negligence ((law) negligence allocated between the plaintiff and the defendant with a corresponding reduction in damages paid to the plaintiff)

concurrent negligence ((law) negligence of two of more persons acting independently; the plaintiff may sue both together or separately)

contributory negligence ((law) behavior by the plaintiff that contributes to the harm resulting from the defendant's negligence)

criminal negligence; culpable negligence ((law) recklessly acting without reasonable caution and putting another person at risk of injury or death (or failing to do something with the same consequences))

neglect of duty ((law) breach of a duty)

dodging; escape; evasion (nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do)

Derivation:

careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)

 Context examples 

Always in sublime carelessness had he lived, till now, and now it seemed to him that they had always reached out and dragged at him with vile hands.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Nothing is more deceitful,” said Darcy, “than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“Well, Watson, we seem to have fallen upon evil days,” said he in a feeble voice, but with something of his old carelessness of manner.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fortunately it was not difficult to do, for Steerforth could always pass from one subject to another with a carelessness and lightness that were his own.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

No harm would have been done had it not been that, as he passed your door, he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness of your servant.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But with a strange kind of tenderness, if he can leave her with such indifference, such carelessness of the future, as you attribute to him.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

"I had not the smallest intention of asking him," said Elizabeth, with affected carelessness, "but he gave so many hints; so Mrs Clay says, at least."

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Henry Crawford, who meanwhile had taken up the play, and with seeming carelessness was turning over the first act, soon settled the business.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The room was quilted on all sides, as well as the floor and the ceiling, to prevent any accident from the carelessness of those who carried me, and to break the force of a jolt, when I went in a coach.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The peasant, however, said: “Don’t tell me that,” and led the cow-herd before the mayor, who for his carelessness condemned him to give the peasant a cow for the calf which had run away.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)