adv
Meaning 1
Giving the appearance of carelessness; relaxedly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The papers were carelessly strewn on the table.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
carelessly
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American: /ˈkɛɹləsli/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɛələsli/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: K EH1 R L AH0 S L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adv
Meaning 2
Done without care or attention; inattentively.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Distracted by the salesperson, he carelessly read the contract.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 3
without care or concern
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- carelessly raised the children's hopes without thinking of their possible disappointment
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: heedlessly
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 4
in a rakish manner
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she wore her hat rakishly at an angle
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: rakishly, raffishly
Antonyms: none provided
adverb
Meaning 5
without caution or prudence
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- one unfortunately sees historic features carelessly lost when estates fall into unsympathetic hands
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: incautiously
Antonyms: carefully
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh2r-der. Proto-Germanic *karō Proto-West Germanic *karu Old English caru Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Old English carlēas Middle English careles English careless Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English carelessly From careless + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
31 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bengali: অন্ধভাবে (ondhobhabe) — in a careless manner
- Chinese Mandarin: 不經意 /不经意 (bùjīngyì) — in a careless manner
- Czech: nedbale — in a careless manner
- Czech: lehkomyslně — in a careless manner
- Esperanto: senzorge — in a careless manner
- Finnish: huolimattomasti — in a careless manner
- Finnish: muina miehinä — in a careless manner
- French: négligemment — in a careless manner
- German: leichtsinnigerweise — in a careless manner
- German: sorglos — in a careless manner
- Hungarian: gondatlanul — in a careless manner
- Irish: ar nós cuma liom — in a careless manner
- Japanese: 不注意に (fuchūi ni) — in a careless manner
- Japanese: うっかり (ukkari) — in a careless manner
- Navajo: tʼáá naʼńleʼee — in a careless manner
- Polish: niedbale — in a careless manner
- Polish: niestarannie — in a careless manner
- Portuguese: descuidadamente — in a careless manner
- Russian: небре́жно (nebréžno) — in a careless manner
- Russian: беспе́чно (bespéčno) — in a careless manner
- Russian: хала́тно (xalátno) — in a careless manner
- Russian: безала́берно (bezaláberno) — in a careless manner
- Serbo-Croatian: nȅmārno — in a careless manner
- Serbo-Croatian: не̏ма̄рно — in a careless manner
- Spanish: descuidadamente — in a careless manner
- Telugu: అజాగ్రతగా (ajāgratagā) — in a careless manner
- Tocharian B: enersäṅk — in a careless manner
- Esperanto: senatente — inattentively
- Hungarian: figyelmetlenül — inattentively
- Polish: nieuważnie — inattentively
- Spanish: desatentadamente — inattentively
Real reading context