Passing vs Careless - What's the difference?
passing | careless | Related terms |
That passes away; ephemeral.
* 1814 , (Lord Byron), Lara , I.15:
* 2010 , Marianne Kirby, The Guardian , 21 Sep 2010:
* Shakespeare
* 1835 , (Washington Irving), The Crayon Miscellany :
* 1847 , Robert Holmes, The Case of Ireland Stated :
vague, cursory.
* 2011 , Stewart J Lawrence, The Guardian , 14 Jun 2011:
going past - passing cars.
* 1813 , (Percy Bysshe Shelley), Queen Mab , I:
* 2010 , Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian , 30 Oct 2010:
Death, dying; the end of something.
The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.
* (Oliver Onions), The Story of Louie
(legal) The act of approving a bill etc.
(sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.
A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
(lb) Free from care; unworried, without anxiety.
*:
*:Good-humored, easy, and careless , he presided over his whale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests.
Not concerned or worried (about).
*
*:"He was here," observed Drina composedly, "and father was angry with him." ¶ "What?" exclaimed Eileen. "When?" ¶ "This morning, before father went downtown." ¶ Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina's case.
Not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning the avoidance of harm or mistakes.
:
As adjectives the difference between passing and careless
is that passing is that passes away; ephemeral while careless is free from care; unworried, without anxiety.As a verb passing
is present participle of lang=en.As an adverb passing
is surpassingly, greatly.As a noun passing
is death, dying; the end of something.passing
English
Verb
(head)Adjective
(en adjective)- And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours
- It might be possible to dismiss
- dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.
- her passing deformity
- It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.
- That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.
- Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.
Adverb
(-)- One, pale as yonder waning moon, / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave, / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!
- ‘I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.’
Usage notes
* This use is sometimes misconstrued as meaning "vaguely" or "slightly" (perhaps by confusion with such phrases as "passing fancy", under Adjective, above), leading to formations such as "more than passing clever" etc.Noun
- And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.