indifference

Noun

indifference (countable and uncountable, plural indifferences)

1. The state of being indifferent.
   • "I do not care for them; I would not have them now," cried Lady Penrhyn; "it is only your affection I care for. Do not suppose, for a moment, that I wish for the tables when you do not: oh, no! my only concern was for your indifference. But I am content if you tell me I was mistaken."1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 115

   Synonyms:

   unconcern

2. Unbiased impartiality.
3. Unemotional apathy.
   • His daughter's indifference towards the sexist group made him wonder if she felt no empathy for the bullied.
   • I wish the consequences of this moment for young women punctured the apparent indifference of so many men and boys I saw that day.2024 November 16, Naomi Beinart, “I’m 16. On Nov. 6 the Girls Cried, and the Boys Played Minecraft.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Nov 2024
4. A lack of enthusiasm.
5. Unconcerned nonchalance.
   • I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
6. Self-identity defined through the negation of difference, non-difference.
   • "I call reason absolute reason, or reason insofar as it is conceived as the total indifference of the subjective and objective."1801, FWJ Schelling, The Philosophical Rupture between Fichte and Schelling, page 145