insouciant

Etymology

From French insouciant, from in- (“prefix meaning ‘not’”) + souciant (“worrying”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsuːsɪənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /inˈsusiənt/
• Hyphenation: in‧sou‧ciant

Adjective

insouciant (comparative more insouciant, superlative most insouciant)

1. Casually unconcerned; carefree, indifferent, nonchalant.
   • 1905, William Somerset Maugham, chapter XXXVIII, in The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia, London: William Heinemann, OCLC 962027576, page 215:

     It was there [Cadiz, Spain] that on Sunday I had seen the populace disport itself, and it was full of life then, gay and insouciant.

   • 1913 August, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Christmas Harp”, in The Golden Road, Boston, Mass.: The Page Company, published April 1926, OCLC 150594789, pages 31–32:

     When we left the Marr house, he [Peter] had boldly said to Felicity, "May I see you home?" And Felicity, much to our amazement, had taken his arm and marched off with him. […] As for me, I was consumed by a secret and burning desire to ask the Story Girl if I might see her home; but I could not screw my courage to the sticking point. How I envied Peter his easy, insouciant manner!

   • 2004 April 26, Richard Schickel, “Sean Penn: Necessary Actor”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 6 March 2008:

     […] [Jack] Nicholson turned to an assistant, bummed a cigarette, flashed one of his wolfish, insouciant grins and said, "We all have our little secrets, Seany."

Anagrams

• incautions

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.su.sjɑ̃/

Adjective

insouciant (feminine singular insouciante, masculine plural insouciants, feminine plural insouciantes)

1. carefree, without worries

Further reading

• “insouciant” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• continuais