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disinterested

[dis-in-tuh-res-tid, -tri-stid]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

unbiased by personal interest or advantage; not influenced by selfish motives: a disinterested decision by the referee.

not interested; indifferent.

Origin:
1605–15; dis-¹ + interested

Related forms

dis·in·ter·est·ed·ly, adverb

dis·in·ter·est·ed·ness, noun

non·dis·in·ter·est·ed, adjective

Can be confused: disinterested, uninterested (see usage note at the current entry).

Synonyms
1. impartial, neutral, unprejudiced, dispassionate. See fair¹.

Antonyms
1. partial, biased.

Usage note
Disinterested and uninterested share a confused and confusing history. Disinterested was originally used to mean “not interested, indifferent”; uninterested in its earliest use meant “impartial.” By various developmental twists, disinterested is now used in both senses. Uninterested is used mainly in the sense “not interested, indifferent.” It is occasionally used to mean “not having a personal or property interest.”EXPAND
Many object to the use of disinterested to mean “not interested, indifferent.” They insist that disinterested can mean only “impartial”: A disinterested observer is the best judge of behavior. However, both senses are well established in all varieties of English, and the sense intended is almost always clear from the context.

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Disinterested is a GRE word you need to know.

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formal or official approval

unable to satisfy creditors or discharge liabilities, either because liabilities exceed assets or because of inability to pay debts as they mature

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Example Sentences

But it cannot be denied that it was fun, and refreshing to the disinterested and carnal man.

In effect, the self-interested activity of fund raising is thought to erode the disinterested pursuit of knowledge.

But there are a handful of more disinterested views of the settlement.

EXPAND

But it cannot be denied that it was fun, and refreshing to the disinterested and carnal man.

In effect, the self-interested activity of fund raising is thought to erode the disinterested pursuit of knowledge.

But there are a handful of more disinterested views of the settlement.

By doing so, it turns disinterested onlookers in my family into interested participants with a surprisingly human experience.

No intelligent disinterested citizen would willingly select such a pavement at his own proper expense.

So, those shy students and/or disinterested students all sit there.

But there are a handful of more disinterested people, and they mostly criticise the settlement.

In fact, the only time that women appeared disinterested was when the man talked too much.

She denies that they were prompted by any disinterested considerations in coming to our rescue.

Levinas's insomnia was a chaste metaphor for disembodied, disinterested thought.

Business everywhere has benefited from a disinterested enforcement of agreed international rules.

Connable isn't exactly a disinterested observer, however.

One prisoner apparently was a disinterested spectator who had a pistol in his pocket.

The faculty members were all swamped with large teaching loads, and the graduate students seemed disinterested.

The panel seems to regard these pieces as disinterested science, rather than counter-advocacy from committed environmentalists.

The military bureaucracy has been disinterested in her work on protecting civilians for years.

We are meant to think that, as a disinterested truth-seeker, she was getting it from both sides.

If you don't it makes it seem as if you are disinterested.

None of this springs from pure economics, nor yet disinterested goodwill.

Wheaton's blog regularly years ago, but it was decidedly disinterested.

Pork barrell spending, local corruption, disinterested management.

They rarely get such a disinterested view of their own work.

Of course their presence is not entirely disinterested.

Buchanan's approach to history is polemical, not disinterested.

The president and board have a reputation for being obsessed with athletics and disinterested in academics.

Another, opposite tactic is to enlist the help of disinterested outsiders.

Such politicisation, many feel, threatens their credibility in handing out disinterested policy advice.

They are not disinterested servants of the public good.

Most importantly, though, it has opened to disinterested investigation an area of human behaviour that all too rarely sees it.

But several more disinterested observers also support them.

For more disinterested observers-economists, for instance-the current behaviour of the markets is grimly fascinating.

They are more accurate because the people are diverse and disinterested.

There is no way that his government can propose a disinterested reform.

Sellers are in no position to offer disinterested advice.

In professional contexts they come across as rude and/or disinterested.

Yet it is only recently that psychologists and social scientists have begun to examine these beliefs in a disinterested way.

Dell did close with one entirely disinterested comment, coming from a computer maker.

IN any controversy it can be helpful to consider the views of disinterested parties.

For sure, support group members are not disinterested parties.

Just a disinterested observer who believes in getting all the facts right.

Peace, tolerance, environmental awareness and even disinterested common sense are in scarily short supply.

As a consequence, many of them become disinterested.

Boaz is a totally disinterested neutral commentator on this motion.

But only the tone deaf could miss that this demonstration was more than a matter of disinterested scholarship.

Burnout, feeling overwhelmed and unprepared hardly qualify as being disinterested.

Waldon has become increasingly disinterested in his duties in the.

We should not discourage this tendency by forcing disinterested centrists into the voting booths.

Ronaldinho was cast as an overfed, overindulged, disinterested egotist.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

absence of interest; indifference.

verb (used with object)

to divest of interest or concern.

Origin:
1605–15; dis-¹ + interest

Can be confused: disinterest, uninterest.

Link To disinterested

Collins

World English Dictionary

disinterested (dɪsˈɪntrɪstɪd, -tərɪs-)

—*adj*
1.	free from bias or partiality; objective
2.	not interested

usage Many people consider that the use of disinterested to mean not interested is incorrect and that uninterested should be used

dis'interestedly

—*adv*

dis'interestedness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

disinterested

1610s, "unconcerned," the sense we now would ascribe to uninterested; with the sense of "impartial" going to disinteressed (c.1600). Modern meaning of disinterested is first attested 1650s. As things now stand, disinterested means "free from personal bias," while uninterested

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means "caring nothing for the matter in question."

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Related Words

fair uninterested cynic Hopkinsianism

Hopkinsianism indifferent nonpartisan

Matching Quote

"What instances must pass before them of ardent, disinterested, self-denying attachment, of heroism, fortitude, patience, resignation—of all the conflicts and the sacrifices that enno ble us most. A sick room may often furnish the worth of volumes."

-Jane Austen

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