Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
904,292,660 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

disinterested

   Also found in: Legal 0.01 sec.
dis·in·ter·est·ed  (ds-ntr-std, -nt-rstd)
adj.
1. Free of bias and self-interest; impartial: "disinterested scientific opinion on fluorides in the water supply" Ellen R. Shell.
2.
a. Not interested; indifferent: "supremely disinterested in all efforts to find a peaceful solution" C.L. Sulzberger.
b. Having lost interest.

dis·inter·est·ed·ly adv.
dis·inter·est·ed·ness n.
Usage Note: In traditional usage, disinterested can only mean "having no stake in an outcome," as in Since the judge stands to profit from the sale of the company, she cannot be considered a disinterested party in the dispute. But despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean "uninterested" or "having lost interest," as in Since she discovered skiing, she is disinterested in her schoolwork. Oddly enough, "not interested" is the oldest sense of the word, going back to the 17th century. This sense became outmoded in the 18th century but underwent a revival in the first quarter of the early 20th. Despite its resuscitation, this usage is widely considered an error. In a 1988 survey, 89 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence His unwillingness to give five minutes of his time proves that he is disinterested in finding a solution to the problem. This is not a significantly different proportion from the 93 percent who disapproved of the same usage in 1980.

disinterested
Adjective
1. free from bias; objective
2. Not standard feeling or showing a lack of interest; uninterested
disinterest n
USAGE: Many people consider that the use of disinterested to mean not interested is incorrect and that uninterested should be used.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.disinterested - unaffected by self-interest
impartial - showing lack of favoritism; "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge"

disinterested
adjective 1. impartial, objective, neutral, detached, equitable, impersonal, unbiased, even-handed, unselfish, uninvolved, unprejudiced, free from self-interest << OPPOSITE biased
adjective 2. indifferent, apathetic, uninterested
USAGE Disinterested is now so commonly used to mean `not interested' that to avoid ambiguity it is often advisable to replace it by a synonym when the meaning intended is `impartial, unbiased'. In the Bank of English about 10% of the examples of the word occur followed by in, and overall about a third of examples are of this usage.
Translations
Spanish disinterested [dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd] adjdesinteresado
French disinterested [dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd] adjdésintéressé(e)
German disinterested [dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd] adj (advice) → unparteiisch, unvoreingenommen;
(help) → uneigennützig

Italian disinterested [dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd] adjdisinteressato/a

?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
Add definition
? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
What it says, when you've peeled off a few of the long words which they put in to make it more interesting, is that old Nutcombe leaves you the money because you are the only man who ever did him a disinterested kindness--and what I want to get out of you is, what was the disinterested kindness?
what was their Reward for such disinterested Behaviour
The case of Gridley is in no essential altered from one of actual occurrence, made public by a disinterested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole of the monstrous wrong from beginning to end.
 
Dictionary/thesaurus browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Translations
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.