A person who doesnt care
Apathetic Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
- Top Definitions
- Synonyms
- Quiz
- Related Content
- More About Apathetic
- Examples
- British
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
[ ap-uh-thet-ik ]
/ ˌæp əˈθɛt ɪk /
Save This Word!
See synonyms for apathetic on Thesaurus.com
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
adjective
having or showing little or no emotion: apathetic behavior.
not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive: an apathetic audience.
OTHER WORDS FOR apathetic
1 unfeeling, impassive, cool.
2 uninterested, unconcerned.
See synonyms for apathetic on Thesaurus.com
OPPOSITES FOR apathetic
1 emotional.
2 concerned.
See antonyms for apathetic on Thesaurus.com
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?
Also ap·a·thet·i·cal .
Origin of apathetic
First recorded in 1735–45; apath(y) + (path)etic
OTHER WORDS FROM apathetic
ap·a·thet·i·cal·ly, adverbWords nearby apathetic
apartmentize, Passage to India, A, apast, apastron, apatetic, apathetic, apathy, apatite, apatosaurus, APB, APC
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
MORE ABOUT APATHETIC
What does
apathetic mean?Apathetic means uncaring.
It’s an adjective form of apathy—the state of not caring. It can also mean the absence or suppression of emotion or passion.
Apathetic is especially used to describe people with a lack of interest or concern about things, especially those that others find important or exciting.
Apathetic often means about the same thing as indifferent, but it’s more often used in the context of someone’s lack of action when action is needed.
The word apathetic is typically used in a negative way to criticize someone as being irresponsible or insensitive. When someone is accused of being apathetic, it usually means the person making the accusation thinks the apathetic person should care more—or at all.
Example: Your generation is astoundingly apathetic—it’s like none of you care about any of the big problems in the world!
Where does
apathetic come from?The first records of the word apathetic come from around 1740.
Its base word, apathy, comes from the Greek apathḗs, meaning “unfeeling,” from a-, “a lack of,” and pathos, “feeling.” The same root forms the basis of words such as empathy and sympathy, and apathetic is made into an adjective in the same way as empathetic, sympathetic, and pathetic.
Describing someone as apathetic doesn’t necessarily mean they feel nothing. But it’s most commonly used to describe someone who doesn’t care enough to do something, especially in a situation that calls for action. In this way, people considered apathetic are often to have an intentionally indifferent attitude that they’ve adopted in order to avoid dealing with problems, taking on challenges, or getting involved with difficult situations.
Did you know ... ?
How is
apathetic used in real life?The word apathetic is usually used in a way that’s critical of the people it’s used to describe—even when people apply it to themselves.
being too passionate, being entirely apathetic – I'm just praying for a balance, a happy median, a sweet spot
— Cyn (@cynthialovely) June 6, 2017
I suspect that's how it starts. Someone does wrong, feels bad about it, doesn't make changes to fix the situation, then grows tired of feeling bad. They become apathetic toward their own feelings of wrong. And one day, they just smother the spark and go "So what?"
— an arch on (@anarchonbury) September 3, 2020
#WritingCommunity, do y’all go thru periods where you’re just completely apathetic about writing? I haven’t been able to get anything significant done on either WIP in like 2 wks. All I feel like doing is reading scripts and watching shows, am I a lazy lump or is this normal?
— Taylor Coriell (@frecklysoprano1) August 31, 2020
Try using
apathetic!Which of the following words is NOT a synonym of apathetic?
A.
indifferent
B. involved
C. unconcerned
D. detached
Words related to apathetic
callous, indifferent, laid-back, passive, stoic, uninterested, blah, cold, cool, could care less, couldn't care less, draggy, emotionless, flat, impassive, insensible, languid, moony, stolid, unconcerned
How to use apathetic in a sentence
Both were victims because they were too apathetic to find a better place to leave their equipment.
How to Not Get Your Gear Stolen|agintzler|July 15, 2021|Outside Online
So often, lately, movie creatives seem not only apathetic about trying to capture it, but ignorant that such an it factor even existed in the first place.
The Dazzling ‘In the Heights’ May Be the Best Movie Musical in Decades|Kevin Fallon|June 11, 2021|The Daily Beast
Nobody leaves feeling apathetic about Ashley, the mark of a well-written character.
Every ‘Mass Effect’ squadmate, ranked from a storytelling perspective|Jhaan Elker|June 4, 2021|Washington Post
As automation continues to entrench itself in every aspect of search marketing, it may be easy to become apathetic towards it or even resent how these developments change our workflows.
Automation isn’t about what machines can do for you, it’s about what you can do together|George Nguyen|April 15, 2021|Search Engine Land
This would empower individuals to make thoughtful and informed decisions about their data privacy, versus the rushed and apathetic experience that accept cookies banners create.
Those ‘accept cookies’ banners on websites undermine your privacy—but they can be fixed|jakemeth|October 27, 2020|Fortune
He began his education at Franklin & Marshall, but was academically apathetic.
The Bioethicist Turned Butcher|Elizabeth Picciuto|September 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“The song was awkward for Marxist critics because of its apathetic character,” the scholar Franz Mennemeier noted.
Brecht's Mercenary Mother Courage Turns 75|Katie Baker|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Pitre is right, combat is about screw-ups, bad officers, apathetic contractors, regret, unfairness, and impossible missions.
'Fives and Twenty-Fives' Is Fiction Honed in a Combat Zone|Brian Castner|August 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
According to a Pew Poll in December, Americans are more apathetic about any kind of military intervention than ever before.
If It Isn’t Our Problem, Don’t Solve It, Say Americans|Joe Concha|March 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Traditionally worn by sixth-graders and jocks and those who lounge aggressively, the draw-stringed trouser is defiantly apathetic.
NBA Players Are Wearing Sweatpants Again, but Now They Cost $550|Sujay Kumar|November 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He tried to console her, to amuse her, but what distraction could be found to appeal to that monstrously apathetic nature?
The Nabob|Alphonse Daudet
At the sound of the word divorce the apathetic old draper seemed to wake up.
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket|Honore de Balzac
How could the apathetic be awakened, the discouraged stimulated, the overworked rested and cheered?
The Leaven in a Great City|Lillian William Betts
But the mean, where it dwelt chiefly, was an apathetic fascination, partly of horror; as of Europa in mid ocean with her bull.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI|Robert Louis Stevenson
But the other men were less apathetic, and had followed the brave man to the door.
Paul Patoff|F. Marion Crawford
British Dictionary definitions for apathetic
apathetic
/ (ˌæpəˈθɛtɪk) /
adjective
having or showing little or no emotion; indifferent
Derived forms of apathetic
apathetically, adverbWord Origin for apathetic
C18: from apathy + pathetic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
nouns - One word for someone who doesn't care about anything
Asked
Modified 3 years, 7 months ago
Viewed 429k times
A pessimist is someone who always considers negative outcomes of a situation, whereas an optimist always considers the positive outcomes.
Is there a word for someone who, in any given situation, doesn't care about the outcome at all?
- single-word-requests
- nouns
4
I can't think of a noun, but you can say "that person is apathetic".
Apathetic at Oxford Dictionaries
adjective showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern
2
Indifferent
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=indifferent
late 14c., "unbiased," from Old French indifferent "impartial" or directly from Latin indifferentem (nominative indifferens) "not differing, not particular, of not consequence, neither good nor evil," [...] Extended sense of "apathetic" first recorded early 15c.; that of "neither good nor bad" 1530s, on notion of "neither more nor less advantageous.
"
2
This might not be quite what you are looking for, but as an extreme case:
Nihilist.
This stems from following nihilism (adapted from the OED):
Total rejection of prevailing religious beliefs, moral principles, laws, etc., often from a sense of despair and the belief that life is devoid of meaning.
The belief or theory that the world has no real existence; the rejection of all notions of reality.
A nihilist would not care about an outcome because it is entirely meaningless.
The word has some negative connotations from meaning 1 above, which may make it unsuitable for your particular purpose.
0
Insouciant
free from concern, worry or anxiety
Unconcerned, undisturbed; carefree and nonchalant
Origin: 1820–30; < French, equivalent to in- in-3 + souciant present participle of soucier to worry < Vulgar Latin *sollicītāre, for Latin sollicitāre to disturb; see solicitous
as suggested in the definitions the other words I would prefer to use are:
nonchalant
unconcerned
All of these words imply a carefree attitude in a good way and lack the negative connotations of having no feeling at all.
4
A fatalist. This does not just mean a person who thinks all things are fated; it has a derived meaning: a person with an attitude of indifference to outcome because of such a belief. An optimist hopes for the best; a pessimist fears the worst; a fatalist is resigned to what will be (regardless of hopes and fears). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatalism
1
In modern Internet parlance, such a person might be referred to as a "honey badger":
This use of the term is based on this popular youtube video.
(Hat tip to user @balpha for bringing this oversight to my attention.)
1-Unresponsive
2-Detached
3-Disinterested
4-Oblivious
0
That would be an apathist I think.
Carefree- having no worries
On the day of the result, Ajay, being optimistic, was very sure of securing all the A grades. But Arun's pessimistic mind was busy looking for excuses to tell his parents why he flunked this time. And Aakash remained as carefree as ever and kept playing video games throughout the day.
How about "this person is a stoic" ?
According to Merriam Webster:
Definition of STOIC ... 2 : one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain
2
How about the adjective related to the word:
Acedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acedia
Does such an adjective exist in English by the way ??
acedious, adj. http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/previous-updates/december-2011/new-words-list/
1
Technically one could say a realist.
However this probably isn't applicable to your situation.
0
A person who cares not at all about anything "in any given situation", must surely be...a cadaver.
More seriously, there are also mugwumps, sloths, and bumps-on-a-log, all of which have some of the qualities you describe.
1
(1)Selfish A man who doesn't care about anything must clearly be the most self absorbed person on the earth. And if he is not self absorbed then refer to answer #2 (2)Dead
1
Insouciant is a word in both the French and English language for a person who does not care about anything. In French it can be both an adjective & a noun. I don't see why one could not use it as a noun in English too.
Such a person would be an insouciant. Such an noun is needed.
If you're looking for one who not only doesn't care about anything, but is in a general surly mood about things...there's "Misanthrope", and the adjective form, "Misanthropic".
2
The person who needs the most
Anna Harutyunyan, Andrey Egorov
August 22, 2013 Colta Specials Comments()
Is it possible to become a curator for a semester? How to overcome your own snobbery? What's with the corner of the label?
stereotype contemporary art. There is a feeling that this is some kind of new phenomenon, a new professional niche. And this is not entirely true.
Andrey Egorov and Anna Harutyunyan, MMOMA researchers and curators of the Dreams for those who are awake museum exhibition
Background
Based on etymology, the term itself turns out to be quite old, if not ancient: it has a Latin root and is associated with the word curare , which literally means “to take care of, heal, exercise guardianship”.
We recently learned that in ancient Rome, the curator was the person responsible for maintaining the aqueducts, in other words, the head of the ancient Roman housing and communal services. Then, in the Middle Ages, in Europe, this word was assigned to people who ran hospices and orphanages - literally took care of the destitute. And in Soviet times, there were their own "curators" in the state security agencies. In the context familiar to us, that is, in relation to those who were responsible for collections of art and other rarities, the term has been used since the 17th century. And although since then he has periodically appeared competitors (like “inspector”), this term has taken root and today even managed to fill the teeth of many.
Caring employee
Traditionally, the full-time position of a curator exists in many European and American museums (and not only art ones), and sometimes in archives, libraries and even botanical gardens.
This refers to a specialist who is responsible for a certain collection (or some part of it), researches and replenishes it, and, importantly, represents it through exhibitions, catalogs, guides.
In Russia, the museum nomenclature is historically different. Since Soviet times, people who, in fact, perform the functions of "curators" in the museum, are called research assistants ; there is also a separate post of custodian. They work in the same team, but the first is responsible, for example, to develop exhibition concepts and write catalog articles, and the second is to take care of the safety of exhibits and issue them to exhibitions. By and large, the museum, "institutional", curator is not some specific branch of curating, but perhaps the most natural, historically rooted form of this activity. And even though it is not the freest (primarily in bureaucratic terms), it has an important advantage - you know “your” collection better than a freelancer.
Occupation?
It has suddenly become very fashionable to be a curator, to consider this as one's profession.
Now there are many schools and courses that specifically prepare people for this path - including in the genre of "become a curator in a semester." This is great, but it is clear that with this approach, a person will still need a fundamental base - a serious knowledge in the field of history and theory of art. Curatorship is still not a profession, but only one of the possible ways to apply special knowledge and skills, if you like, an area of responsibility; profession, whether we like it or not, is still an art critic.
Job description
If you think about it, the ideal curator should be none other than uomo universale . Starting with the fact that he needs to be “in the know”, constantly improve his erudition, read in foreign languages, travel and see a lot in order to be at the forefront of exhibition decisions - after all, he must produce a relevant, strong concept for an exhibition project.
Then - you need to be able to competently and clearly express your intricate ideas (write harmoniously, speak fluently, argue with reason). Finally, to have remarkable organizational skills, to be diplomatic when communicating with artists, colleagues, workers, sponsors, management, and at the same time be calm and confident - radiate wisdom and authority. And on top of that, after a sleepless week of editing at the opening of the exhibition in the light of TV cameras, the curator should look presentable and fresh. It is quite difficult to combine all these virtues in the right proportion, and even in one person. That's why we work together.
"Dreams for those who are awake"
One for all
When you do a big project in a museum, the main difficulty is synergy. It is obvious that all departments - the fund department, PR and exhibition departments, installers, restorers, all the way up to the accounting department - must act as a team, motivated and well-coordinated.
Everyone who has worked in a team, when a large number of people are involved in the final product, understands that this in itself is already a considerable problem. Inevitably, a conflict of interest arises, and personal ambitions (which is normal) and different ideas about responsibility (which is worse) are manifested. The curator in such a situation turns out to be the person who “needs the most”. At all stages of work, it is extremely important to maintain dignity and a respectful tone - this is a tool for proper communication. In the end, due to problems in communication, the exhibition suffers and the pleasure from the process decreases, which should still complement the “Protestant ethic”. When we talk seriously about communities and communication, we ourselves must try to translate these conversations into a practical channel.
High finish
With a competent organization of the process, life, of course, is much easier.
True, in our country everything related to managerial and coordinating functions is still in its infancy. This is always evident in the quality of the final product. And the point here is not the steepness of the concept and not even the seriousness of the texts, but whether the corner of the label is bent or not at your exposition. In English it is called high finish Unfortunately, in Russian institutions this indicator is not yet at the 100% level. But there is something to strive for.
Snobbery
There is indeed such a problem in the small curatorial/art history community. And you come across it already from your student years. And if in the "shop" environment this can be treated stoically (as a cost of the profession), then in relation to the viewer, arrogance is completely unacceptable - given the significance of the exhibition as a public event. In the field of contemporary art, in particular, everything closes in a vicious circle: on the one hand, professionals lament that this art is not popularized, the abyss of misunderstanding and rejection is growing, and on the other hand, they themselves create exhibitions in which they do not bother to this distance overcome.
There are, of course, very interesting and influential examples of emphatically elitist, unadapted projects, but they are more appropriate in a special context - in some galleries, exhibition spaces, but definitely not in a museum.
Intellectual tolerance
There is an opinion that if you, for example, do not quote Žižek in your text or do not mourn the death of the “modernist project”, you will automatically profanize contemporary art. That is, in the "progressive" art community, only left-wing projects fanned with protest political pathos have justification. With all the obvious sympathy for democratic ideas and civic values, there is a feeling that art in such projects often serves as a pretext for the kind of debate that could perhaps be more effectively conducted in a newspaper or a popular blog. Is it necessary to deny the works of artists in visual, plastic power? Indeed, this is also their true rhetorical persuasiveness.
If the left has a utopian intention to create a society of justice, then there must be justice in the fact that exhibitions can be different and should not be reduced to agitprop. In this sense, there must be some kind of intellectual tolerance.
Work for a wide audience
The museum is visited by a wide variety of audiences, so setting the museum curators to a wide audience and trying to make a popular project in a good sense is to overcome one’s own snobbery and strive for social understanding. It is clear, for example, that it makes no sense to write the text in parodic bird language, which is difficult to read even for interested viewers. Colleagues who abuse professional jargon are, in fact, preaching to converts - only those who no longer need to be convinced of anything can digest their texts. The cognitive degree of such projects is quite low. At the same time, adapted explications cannot, of course, be reduced to cute, easy-to-read clichés.
Of course, the level of erudition varies among viewers, but their intelligence should never be underestimated - these are not synonyms. It should not be like this: “we all know and now we will tell you all how it really is.” Indeed, in the process of developing a topic, you yourself learn and discover so much that you have to raise questions and look for solutions together with an imaginary viewer.
Prepared by Yulia Ryzhenko
Like the material? Help the site
Indifference, isolation, inhibition: what is emotional insensitivity — 8 signs
How is it treated
There is no universal remedy for emotional insensibility, each case is individual. Friends, relatives, support groups will not be able to help with all their desire, because they do not know how. The best way out is to consult a psychologist. He can determine the root causes and work through this condition together with the patient.
One should not expect an instant result: the boxes where unlived emotions are hidden should be opened carefully, rethinking each situation.
If everything is done correctly, the ability to feel is gradually restored. Most often, two approaches are used in the treatment of emotional insensitivity:
1. Acceptance and responsibility therapy
Focuses on the development of awareness, the ability to recognize and interpret emotional experience "as is". The patient learns to recognize his own destructive reactions and replace them with constructive ones.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Focuses more on developing the ability to understand and express emotions. The patient learns to consciously replace negative attitudes with positive ones. In addition, the method helps to thoughtfully evaluate different situations and choose the right emotional response.
How to maintain psychological balance
Insensitivity is not always explained by dramatic events. It often develops in those who live in constant stress and work to the limit. In this case, psychologists recommend reconsidering the way of life.
It is enough to follow a few simple rules.
1. Exercise
Sports activities are the best remedy for emotional insensitivity. When we actively move, the brain produces endorphins, which improves mood and causes a surge of energy. Just 20 minutes a day can go a long way in improving mental health.
2. Maintain good sleep hygiene
Quality sleep works wonders. You just need to create conditions for him: a comfortable bed, a dark room, no smartphones in bed and not staying up late.
3. Watch your nutrition
Food is vital fuel for the body. This is an ideal car, but if you fill it with anything, it will certainly fail. If you replace harmful foods with healthy ones and eat when you really want to, your health will soon improve.
4. Reduce your stress levels
Most insensitive people have many unresolved problems. They accumulate gradually and turn into an unbearable burden. In the end, the brain simply cannot withstand the overload and goes into a limited mode.
