SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
apathetic
adjective
Showing little interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Lacking interest or concern
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topListless emphasizes low energy; apathetic emphasizes absent interest or concern.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The apathetic family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
apathynoun
A lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
Lack of interest
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
Low attendance suggested apathy about the proposed rule change.
The chess club's apathy about its new ranking table was explicit: members said the standings interested them so little that they never checked them.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See apathetic in use
The once apathetic audience became engaged when questions began.
At another festival workshop, the organizer found some participants apathetic about choosing the closing music, showing little interest in any of the proposals.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license