Indiscriminate

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɪn.dɪsˈkɹɪm.ɪn.ət/

Definitions

1. Acting or done without careful judgment or distinction, affecting all persons or things equally and often carelessly
2. done without making careful distinctions or choices, applying broadly to all cases regardless of individual differences
3. lacking selectivity or careful consideration when choosing or acting, treating all targets or subjects alike without discernment

Etymology: "Indiscriminate" is built from "in-", meaning "not", and "discriminate", so its basic sense is "not distinguishing" or "not making distinctions." The adjective "discriminate" existed in English first, meaning "marked by careful distinction" or "making fine distinctions," and "indiscriminate" was formed by adding the negating prefix to it. The word is first recorded in 1598, when English had already absorbed "discriminate" from the Latin "discriminatus," the past participle of "discriminare," meaning "to separate" or "to divide." The meaning moved in a direction that the prefix might suggest. An indiscriminate act was originally one that failed to separate things that deserved separating, so the emphasis fell on the lack of selection. Today the word usually describes choices made without care, as in indiscriminate firing or indiscriminate praise, rather than a simple absence of distinction.

Synonyms: random, haphazard, unselective

Antonyms: selective, discriminating