recklessness
nounEtymology From Middle English reklesnes, reklesnesse, rekelesnesse (also assibilated as rechelesnes, reccheleesnesse), from Old English rēcelēasnes (“recklessness, carelessness, negligence”), equivalent to reckless + -ness.
1
Usually The state or quality of being reckless or heedless, of taking unnecessary risks.
- His recklessness repeatedly put him in danger.
- At such times, how we marvel at our usual recklessness, and pause, as it were, shrinking from the busy and inevitable current which is hurrying us on to eternity!1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 228:
2 more examples
- Then, in a state of recklessness, engendered by such luxurious living, he bought another of stout and retired to William Street with it secreted under his coat.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 155:
- Partly because of the heavy burden of government debt built up during his stewardship, and the uncurbed recklessness of the country’s banks, Britain’s recession is already the harshest in Western Europe.2009 March 29, John F. Burns, “Anglo-American Capitalism on Trial”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2021: