reckless
pronunciation
How to pronounce reckless in British English:
UK [ˈrekləs]
How to pronounce reckless in American English:
US [ˈrekləs]
-
- Adjective:
- marked by unthinking boldness; with defiant disregard for danger or consequences
- characterized by careless unconcerned
Word Origin
- reckless
- reckless: [OE] The reck- of reckless is the same word as the now virtually obsolete verb reck ‘care’. It is not clear where this ultimately came from, but the compound reckless itself evidently goes back to the prehistoric West Germanic period, for it also occurs in German (ruchlos) and Dutch (roekeloos).
- reckless (adj.)
- Old English receleas "careless, thoughtless, heedless," earlier reccileas, from *rece, recce "care, heed," from reccan "to care" (see reck (v.)) + -less. The same affixed form is in German ruchlos, Dutch roekeloos "wicked." Root verb reck (Old English reccan) is passing into obscurity.
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. Contrary to myth , entrepreneurs are not reckless gamblers .
- 2. Governments understandably fear the ire of victims of reckless banks .
- 3. In any case , what seems like a precaution can be reckless .
- 4. Mark salter : said we made a reckless choice .
- 5. Greek profligacy , ireland 's housing boom and germany 's reckless state banks all played their part .