RECKLESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does reckless mean? 

• RECKLESS (adjective)
  The adjective RECKLESS has 2 senses:

1. marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences

2. characterized by careless unconcern

  Familiarity information: RECKLESS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RECKLESS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences

Synonyms:

foolhardy; heady; rash; reckless

Context example:

a rash attempt to climb Mount Everest

Similar:

bold (fearless and daring)

Derivation:

recklessness (the trait of giving little thought to danger)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by careless unconcern

Synonyms:

heedless; reckless

Context example:

reckless squandering of public funds

Similar:

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

Derivation:

recklessness (the trait of giving little thought to danger)

 Context examples 

"Anywhere. I don't care what becomes of me," and Laurie got up with a reckless laugh that grated on his grandfather's ear.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was a dangerous, reckless attempt, in which I seem to trace the influence of young Alec.

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

They must have considered I was very careful and timid at first, and that gradually I grew very bold and reckless.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Wolf Larsen has, also, a reputation for reckless carrying on of sail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

How dared he pull at a bell-rope in that reckless fashion?

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

You or others may act a little reckless, outspoken, and aggressive.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons himself to his destiny.

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

Then, seating himself opposite to me, he looked at me long and fixedly with his strange, twinkling, reckless eyes—eyes of a cold light blue, the color of a glacier lake.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew that, owing to his reckless mode of life, he was firmly in the clutches of the Jews, and I hoped that that which had shaken my position might have the effect of restoring his.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was a harum-scarum, reckless lad, and he had had an education, and was already marked for the sword-belt.

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