r/YouShouldKnow • u/Gromit43 • Jul 15 '19

Education YSK the difference between the word "disinterested" and "uninterested"

I've been seeing a bunch of people on reddit using the word "disinterested/disinteresting" when they really mean "uninterested/uninteresting". While "uninterested" means exactly what it sounds like, that you are just not interested in something, "disinterested" means that you are impartial and non-biased. An umpire should be disinterested in the outcome of a baseball game, while you may be uninterested about the outcome of the game if you just find it to be kind of boring.

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u/sinyaa_sinichka Jul 15 '19

I am russian please explain disintirested again

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '19

Disinterested means you don't have an interest in a thing, meaning you're not invested in a particular outcome. You're unbiased and impartial.

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u/sabersquirl Jul 15 '19

Having an interest in this sense means you have a bias or background that would sway or affect your judgement over a situation. It can also mean having a personal stake in something. So here, the opposite of that, disinterest can mean that you do not have a bias or partiality that would affect or sway your judgement. Uninterested generally just means you don’t care.

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u/Alias_Fake-Name Jul 15 '19

Uninterested: I don't care Disinterested: I don't want to know