désintéressement

noun

Neutrality; renunciation of involvement or (especially territorial) ambitions.

Meanings

noundésintéressement (uncountable)
  1. uncountablediplomacyNeutrality; renunciation of involvement or (especially territorial) ambitions.

    P.M. said he had foreseen this, and to meet it, and stop it, had idea that we should put before France, Poland and Soviet a text of a declaration of non-désinteressement.

    1939 March 19, Alexander Cadogan, edited by David Dilks, The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan: 1938–45, published 1971, page 161
    3 more examples

    She demanded, among other things, the whole of S. Tirol, with the boundaries of the Italian kingdom of 1811, Gorizia and Gradisca, and the conversion of Trieste with its surrounding territory into a community independent of Austria-Hungary; […] and a declaration of Austria-Hungary’s désintéressement as regards Albania.

    1922, Alfred Francis Pribram, “Austrian Empire”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, 12th edition, volume 30, page 336

    The fact that the Russian government had reacted reluctantly and had apparently been surprised by the velocity of the events unfolding was interpreted as Russian désintéressement.

    2015, Klaus Bachmann, “Playing on Three Levels at the Same Time – German Public Opinion and German Foreign Policy Toward the Crisis in Ukraine”, in Karol Kujawa, Valeriy Morkva, editors, 2014 Crisis in Ukraine: Perspectives, Reflections, International Reverberations, →ISBN

    He [Charles Hardinge] was therefore less inclined to be concerned about the Afghanistan question and with regard to the Near East and the Balkans considered a demonstrative policy of ‘désintéressement’ on England’s part to be the best solution.

    2017, Andreas Rose, translated by Rona Johnston, Between Empire and Continent: British Foreign Policy before the First World War, →ISBN, page 38

Origin

  1. Frenchdésintéressement
  2. Frenchdésintéressement
  3. Englishdésintéressement

Borrowed from French désintéressement (“disinterest, detachment”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

désintéressement. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9sint%C3%A9ressement

MLA

“désintéressement.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9sint%C3%A9ressement. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “désintéressement,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/d%C3%A9sint%C3%A9ressement.

Source: désintéressement on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.