inattentive

Definition of inattentivenext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of inattentive The bike path runs through the crosswalks, and disabled or slow-moving pedestrians, or those who are simply inattentive, will have to contend with riders zinging through at high speed. Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 30 Apr. 2026 Production designer Nikhil Kovale and his team followed, and the background extras were coached in the inattentive, overlapping business of real hearings rather than the rapt pantomime standard to Bollywood courtroom scenes. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Apr. 2026 In theory, shuffled cards with accompanying patter should boost the chances of volunteers losing sight of their target thanks to the psychological effect known as inattentive blindness. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 1 Apr. 2026 Miami, which lost for the seventh time in eight games, again was slow and passive and inattentive defensively, permitting the Pacers to shoot 58 percent overall and 46 percent (18 for 39) on threes. Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 30 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for inattentive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inattentive
Adjective
  • This emphasis on wholesome working-class respectability is heedless of the ’60s rushing toward them, a decade that, by 1958, the other counselors have prematurely embraced.
    Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 18 May 2026
  • Humanity is heedless of all the clutter in those bands.
    Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • This comes after Scott was notably absent from the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the top 50 donors of the year.
    Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 14 June 2026
  • Additionally, recipients must live in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands, and must not be absent from the United States for a full calendar month or 30 consecutive days.
    Kiara Moore, The Washington Examiner, 14 June 2026
Adjective
  • Stolen bases, once treated as a reckless relic of the uneducated past, are at levels not seen since the freewheeling 1980s.
    Chad Jennings, New York Times, 21 May 2026
  • Regrettably, their students are chronically uneducated.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • When Obama met Trump for a ritual pre-Inauguration visit to the Oval Office, he was struck by how unschooled and incurious the President-elect was.
    Peter Slevin, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
  • Mata was also concerned about how the data failed to display how INA staff works with the lowest English proficiency students in the district — specifically those who are unschooled, and oftentimes refugees who have just entered the country.
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • Still, with this inspirational true story, the streamer stands to reach a much wider public than Perry’s typical audience, reminding how much of American history remains untaught and largely untold.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Dec. 2024
  • Until recent years, the story of how this period affected California’s Indigenous peoples had largely gone untaught or underrecognized.
    Anne Wallentine, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Inattentive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inattentive. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.

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