Recklessness

noun

noun ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks. uncountable, usually

    "His recklessness repeatedly put him in danger."

  2. 2
    the trait of giving little thought to danger wordnet

Example

More examples

"Because of my recklessness, I have been playing a losing game since childhood."

Etymology

From Middle English reklesnes, reklesnesse, rekelesnesse (also assibilated as rechelesnes, reccheleesnesse), from Old English rēcelēasnes (“recklessness, carelessness, negligence”), equivalent to reckless + -ness.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.