Indiscriminating

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Not making distinctions or showing judgment between different things; accepting or affecting all without careful selection
2. lacking careful judgment in distinguishing between different things or making selections without regard to quality or appropriateness
3. treating all things as equivalent without exercising discernment or careful evaluation of differences
4. lacking careful judgment in distinguishing between different things or treating all equally without selective evaluation
5. failing to differentiate among various options or subjects and responding to everything with the same undiscerning approach

Etymology: "Indiscriminating" is built from the prefix "in-", meaning "not", attached to "discriminating," which in turn comes from the Latin "discriminare," to separate or distinguish, from "discrimen," a dividing line or distinction. The "in-" prefix here simply reverses the sense: a discriminating person draws fine distinctions between things, while an indiscriminating one fails to draw them. The adjective "discriminating" once carried a neutral or even admiring sense of making careful, refined distinctions, as in a discriminating palate. The negative form grew from that refined sense, so "indiscriminating" describes someone who lacks the judgment to tell good from bad, or one thing from another. The two words run in opposite directions from a shared root, which is why the pair is easy to confuse with "indiscriminate," a different adjective that describes acts done without selection or order.

Synonyms: unselective, non-discriminating, indiscriminate

Antonyms: discriminating, selective, particular