Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Acting or done with a lack of care or caution; careless or irresponsible.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not recking; careless; heedless; inattentive: in a mild sense.
- Not recking of consequences; desperately heedless, as from folly, passion, or perversity; impetuously or rashly adventurous.
- Synonyms Enterprising, Rash, etc. (see
adventurous ), incautious, unwary, unconcerned, indifferent, thoughtless. See list underrash .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Inattentive to duty; careless; neglectful; indifferent.
- adjective Rashly negligent; utterly careless or heedless.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Careless orheedless ;headstrong orrash . - adjective
Indifferent todanger or theconsequences .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
- adjective characterized by careless unconcern
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Other motorcyclists, more assertive and impatient the word reckless came to mind, began snaking their way in the narrow space between lanes of stopped traffic, as is common here.
NYT > Home Page By ADAM NAGOURNEY 2011
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The fracas has put WikiLeaks in the position of decrying what it called the "reckless" and "negligent" disclosure of information—something WikiLeaks' critics have long accused it of doing itself.
WikiLeaks Blames Paper for Breach Jeanne Whalen 2011
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Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer and Michigan Republican Dave Camp both used the word "reckless" to drive home their opposing points.
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Rep. John Kline R., Minn., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, urged the board to scrap what he called a reckless and job-destroying agenda.
Plan to Ease Way for Unions Melanie Trottman 2011
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South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik has urged North Korea to work for peace on the Korean peninsula and stop what he called "reckless military provocation".
South Korea Marks 61st Anniversary of Start of Korean War 2011
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He said the sanctions risked engulfing the Horn of Africa in another cycle of conflict as it might encourage Ethiopia to contemplate what he called "reckless military adventures."
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South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik has urged North Korea to work for peace on the Korean peninsula and stop what he called "reckless military provocation".
South Korea Marks 61st Anniversary of Start of Korean War 2011
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In a speech at Wall Street's Federal Hall in September of 2009, Obama warned the bankers that Washington was preparing to step in to stop what he called the reckless behavior that led to the economic crisis.
Obama speech will castigate some of his biggest financial backers 2010
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DOUGHERTY: Despite what it calls reckless behavior by North Korea, the Obama administration is sticking to patient diplomacy, hoping a united front with North Korea's neighbors, China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea, could bring the North back to the negotiating table.
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This, as lawmakers in both parties have been hearing outrage about the billions in taxpayer dollars that are still being spent to bail out big companies, what they call reckless companies, like AIG.
yarb commented on the word reckless
What is the reck in this word? Is it like recognition, or reckoning? Is it a fossil noun meaning caution?
November 24, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word reckless
From Online Etymology: O.E. receleas "careless, thoughtless, heedless," earlier reccileas, from -leas "-less" + *rece, recce "care, heed," from reccan "to care," from W.Gmc. *rokijanan (cf. O.N. rækja "to care for," O.H.G. giruochan "to care for, have regard to," Ger. geruhen "to deign," which is infl. by ruhen "to rest"). No known cognates outside Gmc. The same affixed form is in Ger. ruchlos, Du. roekeloos "wicked." Root verb reck (O.E. reccan) is passing into obscurity. The -k- sound is probably a northern influence from O.N. cognate roekja.
Don't know what half of that means, but the other half is pretty interesting. :)
November 24, 2007
yarb commented on the word reckless
Cool. Thanks cb.
November 25, 2007
aykutkaraalioglu commented on the word reckless
opposite of calculated
July 20, 2012