as in heedless
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Recent Examples of inattentive
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
Half of likely voters remain inattentive to the race at this stage, meaning lower-polling candidates still retain potential pathways to growth if the field narrows organically.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026
Tom Defur, also with the Caldwell Police Department, shared that his daughter was killed in a car crash because of an inattentive driver.
—Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 13 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inattentive
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
Half of likely voters remain inattentive to the race at this stage, meaning lower-polling candidates still retain potential pathways to growth if the field narrows organically.
—Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026
Tom Defur, also with the Caldwell Police Department, shared that his daughter was killed in a car crash because of an inattentive driver.
—Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 13 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inattentive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inattentive
Adjective
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Humanity is heedless of all the clutter in those bands.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
16 Apr. 2026
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The rules of polite society would bar this particular group from fraternizing together in such a heedless manner, but the Bridgerton wrap party brought the crew together for what appears to have been a very good time indeed.—
Sophie Dodd,
PEOPLE,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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There’s something winningly absent-minded about Gosling’s performance here.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
20 Mar. 2026
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The show offered her five more episodes—her rent for the year—and the absent-minded waitress became a recurring character named Ursula.—
Michael Schulman,
New Yorker,
16 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The problem is not simply that these writers are absent from Parisian shelves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
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And whatever rifts had formed in his relationship with Altman were largely absent from social media.—
Ashley Capoot,Lora Kolodny,
CNBC,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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The animals help Tim, who proves uneducated in the methods of deduction, investigate a series of local suspects portrayed by Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Emma Thompson, Kobna Holbrook-Smith, Nicholas Galitzine, Tosin Cole and Conleth Hill, among others.—
Tommy McArdle,
PEOPLE,
7 May 2026
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Regrettably, their students are chronically uneducated.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Some rooms have mural-like headboards with abstracted views of Philly neighborhoods or custom light fixtures inspired by Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod experiments.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 May 2026
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Sometimes the album feels like an abstracted version of electro-acoustic jazz in the ’80s, when the frontline instrumentation of traditional jazz was still intact but the tools for rhythm had changed completely.—
Mark Richardson,
Pitchfork,
12 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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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
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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
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Inattentive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inattentive. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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