Etymologically
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indifference

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪnˈdɪf.ɹəns/, /ɪnˈdɪf.ə.ɹəns/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin indifferentia (“lack of difference, similarity”),[2][3][4][5][6] Merriam-Webster takes it through Middle French indifférence.[7] The Anglo-Norman indifference is recorded from 1385–86.[8] The Latin noun comes from indifferēns (“indifferent”), from in- (“not”) and differēns (“differing”), the present participle of differō (“to differ; to put off”).[5][4][7][3] The Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com treat it as a variant of indifferency with the suffix -ence.[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality of being neither good nor bad, a neutral quality: mid 15th century in Etymonline,[3][5] and the MED's first quotation, about 1470, has it in the sense of impartiality.[10]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a neutral quality, and by the late 15th century also impartiality, the making of no difference between sides, a sense the OED records until 1743.[3][2][9] The sense now usual, the absence of care, interest or concern, dates from the 1650s (1660 in the OED).[3][2] In philosophy it named the freedom of the will to choose either of two courses (1728),[2][9] and a matter of indifference, something that makes no difference, is recorded from 1644, in Milton's Areopagitica.[2] The sense "mediocrity, lack of quality" was first entered by Webster in 1864.[2][3] In economics, an indifference curve links combinations of goods that a consumer values equally (1881).[2][9] For a short time (c. 1503–89) indifference was also used to mean simply "difference", perhaps in error.[2][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1450 – a neutral quality, neither good nor bad.[3]
  • c. 1470 – impartiality (obsolete by 1743).[10][2]
  • 1644 – unimportance, as in a matter of indifference.[2]
  • 1656 – lack of difference between things.[2]
  • 1660 – lack of interest or concern; apathy.[2][3]
  • 1728 – indetermination of the will; neutrality.[2]
  • 1881 – indifference curve, in economics.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lack of interest, concern or sympathy; apathy: The council's indifference to the residents' complaints angered them.[7][11][2][12]
  2. Lack of importance; something that does not matter, as in a matter of indifference.[11][2][9]
  3. Lack of quality; mediocrity.[11][9]
  4. (economics) indifference curve: a curve linking combinations of goods that a consumer values equally.[2][9]
  5. (archaic) Lack of difference or distinction between things.[7][9][2]
  6. (archaic) Freedom of the will to choose either of two courses.[7][9][2]
  7. (obsolete, 1533–1743) Impartiality.[2][9]

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes indifference, the absence of feeling or interest, from unconcern, a calm absence of worry where worry might be expected, listlessness, a languid lack of interest, apathy, a deep emotional and intellectual indifference, and insensibility, an inability to feel.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin