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THOUGHTLESS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without care or thought for others
Example:
the thoughtless saying of a great princess on being informed that the people had no bread; 'Let them eat cake'
Synonyms:
thoughtless; uncaring; unthinking
Classified under:
Similar:
inconsiderate (lacking regard for the rights or feelings of others)
Derivation:
thoughtlessness (the quality of failing to be considerate of others)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Showing lack of careful thought
Example:
the debate turned into thoughtless bickering
Classified under:
Similar:
inconsiderate; unconsidered (without proper consideration or reflection)
unreflective; unthinking; unthoughtful (not exhibiting or characterized by careful thought)
Also:
inconsiderate (lacking regard for the rights or feelings of others)
Attribute:
thoughtfulness (the trait of thinking carefully before acting)
Antonym:
thoughtful (exhibiting or characterized by careful thought)
Derivation:
thoughtlessness (the trait of not thinking carefully before acting)
Context examples:
Yet, as I began to thread the grove that lies before it, I was not so thoughtless but that I slacked my pace and went a trifle warily.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I was very young, and associated only with the young, and we were a thoughtless, gay set, without any strict rules of conduct.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
My brother is a lively and perhaps sometimes a thoughtless young man; he has had about a week's acquaintance with your friend, and he has known her engagement almost as long as he has known her.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
But no one found the words thoughtless or untrue, for Beth still seemed among them, a peaceful presence, invisible, but dearer than ever, since death could not break the household league that love made dissoluble.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I entreated Agnes not to regard this as a thoughtless passion which could ever yield to any other, or had the least resemblance to the boyish fancies that we used to joke about.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I am so giddy and thoughtless! Do excuse me.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Ah! sir—but a thoughtless young person will sometimes step behind a window-curtain, and throw up a sash, without its being suspected.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Thoughtless and indiscreet I can easily believe him, but this step (and let us rejoice over it) marks nothing bad at heart.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
To be finding herself, perhaps within three days, transported to Mansfield, was an image of the greatest felicity, but it would have been a material drawback to be owing such felicity to persons in whose feelings and conduct, at the present moment, she saw so much to condemn: the sister's feelings, the brother's conduct, her cold-hearted ambition, his thoughtless vanity.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
“I am ill here, I am very ill. To think that it should come to this, when I might have known it and perhaps prevented it, if I hadn't been a thoughtless fool!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
