uninterested

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + interested,^[2][3][4][5] the past participle of the verb interest.^[2][3][6] Johnson (1755) also lists the obsolete form uninteressed, with a quotation from Dryden.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unbiased, impartial: before 1646, in J. Gregory's Posthuma (printed 1649).^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s,^[2] Dictionary.com to 1640–50,^[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1661 as its first known use.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant "impartial, unbiased", a sense the OED records only until 1660.^[6] From 1661 until 1767 it also meant "free from motives of personal interest", what is now called disinterested.^[6][4] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "not having interest".^[7] The modern sense, "unconcerned, indifferent", appears in 1772 in the Annual Register,^[6] dated 1771 by the 1989 edition of the OED and by Etymonline.^[8][2] Merriam-Webster explains that uninterested lost its "impartial" sense in the 18th century, at about the time when disinterested lost its original sense "not interested", and that uninterested then developed its present meaning to take its place.^[3] The two words thus swapped meanings: according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "not interested" is the oldest sense of disinterested, from the 17th century; it went out of use in the 18th and came back in the early 20th.^[9] The noun uninterestedness is recorded from the late 17th century and uninterest, lack of interest, from the late 19th.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1646 – unbiased, impartial (obsolete by 1660).^[6]
• 1661 – free from motives of personal interest; disinterested (obsolete by 1767).^[6][3]
• 1772 – unconcerned, indifferent.^[6] The 1989 edition of the OED and Etymonline date it to 1771.^[8][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not interested; having no curiosity or concern; indifferent: The children were uninterested in the museum's coin collection.^[3][10][6]
2. Having no personal stake, especially no financial or property interest, in something; not personally concerned.^[3][11]
3. (obsolete, 1646–1767) Impartial, unbiased; free from motives of self-interest.^[6][4]

Word family

• uninterestedly
• uninterestedness

Related words

• interested
• interest
• disinterested

Usage notes

Usage guides distinguish uninterested, "not interested", from disinterested, "impartial, having no stake in the outcome".^[10][12][9] The use of disinterested to mean "not interested" is widely regarded as incorrect: Collins notes that many people consider uninterested the right word there,^[10] the OED calls the use of disinterested in this sense increasingly common in informal use though widely regarded as incorrect,^[6] and Etymonline calls uninterested the correct word for what is often miscalled disinterested.^[2] In a 1988 survey, 89 percent of the American Heritage Dictionary's Usage Panel rejected disinterested in this sense.^[9] Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, says that the "not interested" sense of disinterested has been attacked as a loss of a useful distinction, but that actual usage shows the "impartial" sense is still the commoner one.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press