Word of the Day: Disinterested
disinterested
dis-in-ter-est-ed / dĭs-ĭn-trĭ-stĭd, dĭs-ĭn-tə-rĕs-tĭd
adjective
1. impartial; having no bias or selfish motives
The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works.
Saint Augustine, 354 – 430
2. not interested or no longer interested
Communist China is supremely disinterested in all efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Vietnamese war on any basis other than total U.S. surrender.
C.I. Sulzberger, “Foreign Affairs: China War at Any Price”, ‘The New York Times’, January 2, 1966
etymology
A combination Latin prefix dis-/ di- (apart, away) and the English adjective interested, which is ultimately derived from the Latin prepositional prefix inter- (between, among, within, involved with) and est the third person singular of the Latin verb sum, esse, fui, futurum (to be).
Thank you to Allen Ward for providing this etymology.
