disinterested

Etymology

It is formed from English dis- + interested,^[2][3][4][5] or from the verb disinterest with the suffix -ed.^[5][6][7] The noun interest goes back to Latin interest (“it is of importance”), the third person singular of intersum (“to be between, take part in”).^[8] Barnhart thinks it may have replaced the earlier disinteressed (1610), formed from dis- and interessed or from the verb disinteress, from French désintéresser (“to rid of interest in”);^[9] Etymonline traces disinteressed to Old French desinteresse.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without interest or concern, unconcerned: before 1631, in John Donne's Biathanatos.^[5] The 1989 edition of the OED dated it before 1612,^[10] like Barnhart,^[9] and Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1612.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word began with the sense now usually given to uninterested, "not concerned".^[2][5] According to Barnhart, Donne used the earlier disinteressed to mean "impartial", and may have thought of it as a word separate from disinterested "unconcerned";^[9] Etymonline likewise says that "impartial" was first the sense of disinteressed (about 1600), and passed later to uninterested.^[2] Disinterested "impartial, not influenced by personal interest" is recorded from 1659,^[5][9][2] and Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, "superior to regard of private advantage".^[12] Merriam-Webster notes that the first sense of uninterested, "impartial", went out of use in the 18th century, at about the time the original sense of disinterested also disappeared;^[13] by the late 18th century, Etymonline says, the two words had sorted themselves out, and disinteressed had fallen out of use.^[2] In the 20th century people again began to use disinterested for "not interested",^[14] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records "no longer interested".^[11][15]

Timeline

• before 1631 – not interested, unconcerned, in Donne.^[5] The 1989 edition of the OED and Barnhart date it before 1612.^[10][9]
• 1659 – impartial, not influenced by personal interest.^[5][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not influenced by personal advantage; impartial or unbiased: The dispute went to a disinterested arbiter.^{[16][11][5][3]}
2. Not interested; indifferent: The cat seemed disinterested in its new toy.^{[16][11][5][3]}
3. Having lost interest: After a month, the players grew disinterested in the league.^[11][15]

Word family

• disinterestedly
• disinterestedness
• nondisinterested

Related words

• uninterested
• interest
• disinterest

Usage notes

The use of disinterested to mean "not interested" is disputed: many people consider it incorrect and hold that uninterested should be used instead, keeping disinterested for "impartial";^[16][17] the OED notes that this sense is often regarded as loose.^[5] In the American Heritage Dictionary's survey, 89 percent of its Usage Panel rejected a sentence using disinterested for "not interested", against 93 percent in an earlier survey, though many educated writers use it that way.^[15] Dictionary.com, on the other hand, says that both senses are well established in all varieties of English and that the context almost always shows which one is meant,^[3] and Grammarphobia observes that the latest dictionaries tend to accept both meanings, with "impartial" first.^[14] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, said that the two words were sometimes confused in speech but rarely in writing.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "Disinterested vs. uninterested", 5 October 2006
15. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press