Meaning & use
uncaring
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Showing no concern for other people's feelings or needs.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: an uncaring parent, he seemed uncaring.
Patterns
- uncaring about something
- an uncaring attitude
She felt abandoned by her cold, uncaring family.
The clerk gave an uncaring shrug and turned away.
The manager's uncaring attitude upset the whole team.
adjectiveafter a verb
Not affected by or interested in something, often because of a lack of feeling.
Grammar: Often used after seem or look: he looked uncaring.
Patterns
- uncaring of something
The sea stayed uncaring of the sailors' fear.
He walked past, uncaring of the rain.
The universe can seem vast and uncaring.
Word forms
| comparative | more uncaring |
|---|---|
| superlative | most uncaring |
Common combinations
- uncaring attitude
- His uncaring attitude cost him his friends.
- cold and uncaring
- The staff seemed cold and uncaring.
- uncaring parent
- She grew up with an uncaring parent.
- seem uncaring
- I didn't mean to seem uncaring.
- uncaring world
- The novel shows an uncaring world.
Synonyms and how they differ
- indifferent
- Indifferent means having no strong feeling either way, and is less harsh than uncaring.
- callous
- Callous is stronger and suggests a cruel hardness toward suffering.
- heartless
- Heartless suggests a total lack of pity, and is more emotional than uncaring.
- unfeeling
- Unfeeling describes a person who seems unable to feel emotion at all.
Opposites
Word family
- care verb
- to feel concern for someone
- caring adjective
- showing kindness and concern
- carelessly adverb
- without enough attention (related, but different meaning)
- uncaringly adverb
- in a way that shows no concern
Commonly confused: uncaring or careless?
uncaring vs careless
Careless means not paying enough attention, as in careless mistakes, whereas uncaring means not showing concern for people.
Practice
The patient complained that the nurse was cold and ___, never asking how she felt.
Choose one answer.
Uncaring means showing no concern for others' feelings. Careless means making mistakes through lack of attention, which is a tempting but different fault.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “uncaring”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.