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Word of the Day Archive
Thursday June 26, 2003

insouciant \in-SOO-see-uhnt\, adjective:
Marked by lighthearted unconcern or indifference; carefree; nonchalant.

The insouciant gingerbread man skips through the pages with glee, until he meets his . . . demise at the end.
-- Judith Constantinides, "The Gingerbread Man", School Library Journal, April 2002

They don't seem to care whether they become stars or not, and their irony . . . has a scoffing, insouciant feel.
-- Thomas Frank, "Pop music in the shadow of irony", Harper's Magazine, March 1998

The British right is not so rich in ideas and projects that it can afford to be insouciant about a new one.
-- John Lloyd, "The Anglosphere Project", New Statesman, March 13, 2000

Insouciant is from the French, from in-, "not" + souciant, "caring," present participle of soucier, "to trouble," from Latin sollicitare, "to disturb," from sollicitus, "anxious." The noun form is insouciance.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for insouciant

 

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