Dictionary

recklessness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *rōkijaną Proto-West Germanic *rōkijan Old English rēċan 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 rēċelēas Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Old English rēċelēasnes Middle English reklesnes English recklessness From Middle English reklesnes, reklesnesse, rekelesnesse (also assibilated as rechelesnes, reccheleesnesse), from Old English rēcelēasnes (“recklessness, carelessness, negligence”), equivalent to reckless + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks.
   • His recklessness repeatedly put him in danger.
   • Then, in a state of recklessness, engendered by such luxurious living, he bought another of stout and retired to William Street with it secreted under his coat. 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 155:
   • At such times, how we marvel at our usual recklessness, and pause, as it were, shrinking from the busy and inevitable current which is hurrying us on to eternity! 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 228:
   • Partly because of the heavy burden of government debt built up during his stewardship, and the uncurbed recklessness of the country’s banks, Britain’s recession is already the harshest in Western Europe. 2009 March 29, John F. Burns, “Anglo-American Capitalism on Trial”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2021:

Forms

Translations (25)

ro imprudență (being reckless) · ro nesăbuință (being reckless) · es negligencia (being reckless) · es osadía (being reckless) · uk нерозсудливість (being reckless) · de Rücksichtslosigkeit (being reckless) · es temeridad (being reckless) · eo malzorgemo (being reckless) · ca temeritat (being reckless) · de Leichtsinnigkeit (being reckless) · ar تَهَوُّر (being reckless) · id kesembronoan (being reckless) · pt descuido (being reckless) · es imprudencia (being reckless) · de Gewagtheit (being reckless) · el αψηφισιά (being reckless) · es descuido (being reckless) · cmn 莽撞 (being reckless) · he רַשְׁלָנוּת (being reckless) · ro nesocotință (being reckless) · ro nechibzuință (being reckless) · cmn 鲁莽 (being reckless) · de Fahrlässigkeit (being reckless) · pt negligência (being reckless) · th ความบ้าระห่ำ (being reckless)