Uninterested and disinterested are often used interchangeably, and yet they have two very distinct meanings. Pretty interesting, right? Or perhaps you’re uninterested in the uninterested vs. disinterested debate. You could also be disinterested. Or maybe you’re both! So what’s the difference?
If you’re uninterested in the uninterested vs. disinterested debate, you’re either bored, unconcerned, or indifferent. You don’t care. You’re apathetic. Being uninterested in something is the flipside of being interested in something. Let’s look at some examples.
If you’re disinterested in the uninterested vs. disinterested debate, you’re objective, impartial, unbiased. You have no skin in the game. If you’re convening a jury, you want a disinterested group of people rather than uninterested group of people. If you’re being accused of a crime, you want a disinterested judge rather than an uninterested one. Here are a few more examples.
While the two words mean different things, you can be both uninterested and disinterested. Although it would not be ideal, a judge can be unbiased toward a trial while also being bored by it. A student can simultaneously not care about a film while also having no opinion on its content. These words can exist together, but you have to know how to use them.
Now that you know the difference between uninterested and disinterested, the world of dispassion and impartiality is yours for the taking! And don’t forget to check out some of Elite’s other blogs on common grammatical puzzles, such as biennial vs. biannual, affect vs. effect, and caramel vs. Carmel.
Trying to figure out syntax? To begin, take a look at this sentence: It was getting dark out, and the ______ ________ ________ decided she'd…
A preposition is a word that creates a relationship between an object and another word within a sentence. Examples of prepositions include that, which, on,…
When to Hyphenate Adjectives Hyphenated adjectives explained! Hyphens are used to connect two words—or compounds—that modify a noun (ex: award-winning actor, brown-eyed girl). While different…