Meanings
dispassionate1
comparative more dispassionate · superlative most dispassionate
- Not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice.
Yes, I suppose the news should just be a dispassionate list of all the events that have occurred the world over during the day. That would be good. Except, of course, it would take forever.
2004 November 26, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, “Local Zero” (8:31 from the start), in Peep Show, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Mark Corrigan (David Mitchell), Channel 41 more example
I am an indifferent player. If the tactics of the game have been reduced to machinery and the combinations are controlled by a dispassionate automaton, the one-tenth would constitute a winning factor.
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLCSynonyms: nonpassionate, unpassionate, alexithymic, apathistical, clinical, dull, phlegmatic, cold-blooded · Antonyms: passionate
dispassionate2
present singular third person dispassionates · participle present dispassionating · participle past dispassionated · past dispassionated
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice.
verbTo free from passion.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
dispassionate · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
- Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
- Proto-Italic*dis-
- Latindis-
- Old Frenchdes-
- Latindis-
- Middle Englishdis-
- Englishdis-
- Englishpassionate
- Englishdispassionate
From dis- + passionate.
Full word history & related roots →dispassionate · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
- Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
- Proto-Italic*dis-
- Latindis-
- Old Frenchdes-
- Latindis-
- Middle Englishdis-
- Englishdis-
- Proto-Indo-European*peh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*ph₁tós
- Proto-Italic*patosder.?
- Proto-Indo-European*pet-der.?
- Latinpatior
- Latinpassiō
- Old Englishpassion
- Latinpassiō
- Old Frenchpassion
- Middle Englishpassioun
- Englishpassion
- Englishdispassion
- Englishdispassionate
From dispassion + -ate (verb-forming suffix).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian безстрастен
- безстрастен (bezstrasten)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Chinese Mandarin 冷靜的 /冷静的, 不帶感情的 /不带感情的
- 冷靜的 /冷静的 (lěngjìng de)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- 不帶感情的 /不带感情的 (bù dài gǎnqíng de)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Finnish kiihkoton, maltillinen
- kiihkotonnot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- maltillinennot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
French dépassionné, calme
- dépassionnénot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- calmenot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- rationnelnot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- impartialnot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- objectifnot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
German leidenschaftslos
- leidenschaftslosnot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Italian spassionato
- spassionatonot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Māori whakamoroki
- whakamorokinot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Polish bezstronny, beznamiętny
- bezstronnynot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- beznamiętnynot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Russian беспристра́стный
- беспристра́стный (bespristrástnyj)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Swedish lidelsefri, kallsinnig
- lidelsefrinot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- kallsinnignot showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Ukrainian безсторо́нній, безпри́страсний
- безсторо́нній (bezstorónnij)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
- безпри́страсний (bezprýstrasnyj)not showing, and not affected by, emotion, bias, or prejudice
Cite this entry
dispassionate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispassionate
“dispassionate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispassionate. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dispassionate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dispassionate.
Source: dispassionate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.