Library / English Dictionary

CARELESSLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without care or concern

Example:

carelessly raised the children's hopes without thinking of their possible disappointment

Synonyms:

carelessly; heedlessly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a rakish manner

Example:

she wore her hat rakishly at an angle

Synonyms:

carelessly; raffishly; rakishly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 3

Meaning:

Without caution or prudence

Example:

one unfortunately sees historic features carelessly lost when estates fall into unsympathetic hands

Synonyms:

carelessly; incautiously

Classified under:

Adverbs

Antonym:

carefully (as if with kid gloves; with caution or prudence or tact)

Pertainym:

careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Oh! no, no”—cried Emma, laughing as carelessly as she could—“Upon no account in the world.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

As he bent his head carelessly to smell it, White Fang bristled slightly.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Upon the hint of having spoken disrespectfully or carelessly of the family and the family honours, he was quite indignant.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“I remember writing a review of a thin little volume—” I had begun carelessly, when she interrupted me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“It looks like him,” I replied, as carelessly as I could.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I replied carelessly, and partly in contempt, mentioned the names of my alchemists as the principal authors I had studied.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room to know if I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left the key in the door when he came out.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It could be nothing but the violence of the wind penetrating through the divisions of the shutters; and she stepped boldly forward, carelessly humming a tune, to assure herself of its being so, peeped courageously behind each curtain, saw nothing on either low window seat to scare her, and on placing a hand against the shutter, felt the strongest conviction of the wind's force.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

And he nodded his head in my direction carelessly.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

When he heard such words dropping carelessly from the lips of the members of this marvellous family, her family, he thrilled with delight.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)