could care less

kəd kɛə ˈlɛs

1 definition

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#1·4h ago

(US, nonstandard, proscribed) To not care at all; to have no concern or interest; to be apathetic.

Farmers knew that dead fish made plants go better. They could care less about why that happened. Scientists could not sleep until they found out why.

Origin: An alteration of couldn’t care less (which is first attested slightly earlier), either: * by deliberate irony, or * by hyponegation, perhaps influenced by forms such as “as if I could care less”, “no one could care less”, and “to know little (or nothing) and care less”. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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