Meanings
reckless1
adjectivereckless (comparative recklesser or more reckless, superlative recklessest or most reckless)
comparative recklesser · comparative more reckless · superlative recklessest · superlative most reckless · alternative obsolete rechless · alternative obsolete retchless
- Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash.
- Indifferent or oblivious to danger or the consequences thereof.
Escalation is the film’s nuclear energy source. It’s there, of course, in the downright lunatic stunts performed by [Tom] Cruise, again defying good sense and his own advancing years to top his previous feats of reckless self-endangerment.
2018 July 25, A. A. Dowd, “Fallout may be the Most Breathlessly Intense Mission: Impossible Adventure Yet”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2018
Reckless2
proper noun
- A surname.
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*rōkijaną
- Proto-West Germanic*rōkijan
- Old Englishrēċan
- Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
- Proto-Germanic*leusaną
- Proto-Germanic*lausaz
- Old Englishrēċelēas
- Middle Englishrekles
- Englishreckless
From Middle English rekles, reckeles, rekkeles, (also recheles), from Old English rēcelēas (“reckless, careless, negligent”), equivalent to reck + -less. Cognate with West Frisian roekeleas (“reckless”), Dutch roekeloos (“reckless”), German Low German ruuklos (“careless”), German ruchlos (“careless, notorious”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἰταμός, προπετής
- ἰταμός (itamós)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- προπετής (propetḗs)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ῥιψοκίνδυνος (rhipsokíndunos)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Arabic مُتَهَوِّر
- مُتَهَوِّر (mutahawwir)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Bulgarian безразсъден, необмислен
- безразсъден (bezrazsăden)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- необмислен (neobmislen)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- безотговорен (bezotgovoren)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- дързък (dărzăk)indifferent to danger or the consequences
- безразсъден (bezrazsăden)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Catalan imprudent, temerari
- imprudentcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- temerariindifferent to danger or the consequences
Chinese Mandarin 魯莽 /鲁莽, 愣頭愣腦 /愣头愣脑
- 魯莽 /鲁莽 (lǔmǎng)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- 愣頭愣腦 /愣头愣脑 (lèngtóulèngnǎo)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- 毛頭毛腦 /毛头毛脑 (máotóumáonǎo)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Czech bezohledný, bezstarostný
- bezohlednýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- bezstarostnýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- lehkomyslnýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- bezstarostnýindifferent to danger or the consequences
- lehkomyslnýindifferent to danger or the consequences
Danish skødesløs, ubetænksom
- skødesløscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ubetænksomcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- letsindigindifferent to danger or the consequences
Dutch roekeloos, roekeloos
- roekelooscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- roekeloosindifferent to danger or the consequences
Esperanto temerara
- temeraracareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Finnish harkitsematon, holtiton
- harkitsematoncareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- holtitoncareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- huimapäinenindifferent to danger or the consequences
- rämäpäinenindifferent to danger or the consequences
- uhkarohkeaindifferent to danger or the consequences
- hurjapäinenindifferent to danger or the consequences
- huimaindifferent to danger or the consequences
- yltiöpäinenindifferent to danger or the consequences
French irresponsable, insouciant
- irresponsablecareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- insouciantcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- téméraireindifferent to danger or the consequences
- branqueindifferent to danger or the consequences
German waghalsig, unverantwortlich
- waghalsigcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- unverantwortlichcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- unbekümmertcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- leichtsinnigcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- leichtfertigcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- rücksichtslosindifferent to danger or the consequences
- waghalsigindifferent to danger or the consequences
- verwegenindifferent to danger or the consequences
- halsbrecherischindifferent to danger or the consequences
Greek απερίσκεπτος, απερίσκεπτος
- απερίσκεπτος (aperískeptos)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- απερίσκεπτος (aperískeptos)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Hebrew רַשְׁלָן
- רַשְׁלָן (rashlán)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Hungarian vakmerő
- vakmerőcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Indonesian sembrono, gila-gilaan
- sembronocareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- gila-gilaancareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- gegabahindifferent to danger or the consequences
Irish ráscánta, meargánta
- ráscántacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- meargántacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- neamhchúramachcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- místuamacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Italian avventato, spericolato
- avventatocareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- spericolatoindifferent to danger or the consequences
Japanese 無謀, 無知
- 無謀 (mubō)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- 無知 (muchi)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Korean 무모하다, 무모(無謀)하다
- 무모하다 (mumohada)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- 무모(無謀)하다 (mumohada)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Latin incautus, incautus
- incautuscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- incautusindifferent to danger or the consequences
Latvian neapdomīgs, pārsteidzīgs
- neapdomīgscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- pārsteidzīgscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Māori totoa, tōtōā
- totoacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- tōtōācareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- pokerenoacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- totoaindifferent to danger or the consequences
- pokerenoaindifferent to danger or the consequences
- nanakiaindifferent to danger or the consequences
- raukekeindifferent to danger or the consequences
Norwegian hensynsløs
- hensynsløscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Persian جسور
- جسور (jasur)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Polish lekkomyślny, nierozważny
- lekkomyślnycareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- nierozważnycareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- lekkomyślnyindifferent to danger or the consequences
- zawadiackiindifferent to danger or the consequences
Portuguese imprudente, temerário
- imprudentecareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- temerárioindifferent to danger or the consequences
Romanian nesăbuit, nechibzuit
- nesăbuitcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- nechibzuitcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- imprudentcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Russian безрассу́дный, опроме́тчивый
- безрассу́дный (bezrassúdnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- опроме́тчивый (oprométčivyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- бесшаба́шный (besšabášnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- безу́мный (bezúmnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- беспе́чный (bespéčnyj)indifferent to danger or the consequences
- легкомы́сленный (lexkomýslennyj)indifferent to danger or the consequences
- безотве́тственный (bezotvétstvennyj)indifferent to danger or the consequences
Scottish Gaelic coma, coma
- comacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- comaindifferent to danger or the consequences
Slovak bezohľadný, bezstarostný
- bezohľadnýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- bezstarostnýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ľahkomyseľnýcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ľahkovážnycareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Spanish imprudente, temerario
- imprudentecareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- temerariocareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- temerarioindifferent to danger or the consequences
- desconsideradoindifferent to danger or the consequences
- imprudenteindifferent to danger or the consequences
Swedish obetänksam, vårdslös
- obetänksamcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- vårdslösindifferent to danger or the consequences
- lättsinnigindifferent to danger or the consequences
Tagalog pabaya
- pabayacareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Thai บ้าระห่ำ, ไม่ยั้งคิด
- บ้าระห่ำcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ไม่ยั้งคิดindifferent to danger or the consequences
Turkish umursamaz, kayıtsız
- umursamazcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- kayıtsızcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- ihtiyatsızcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- korkusuzindifferent to danger or the consequences
- pervasızindifferent to danger or the consequences
Ukrainian безрозсу́дний, нерозсу́дливий
- безрозсу́дний (bezrozsúdnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- нерозсу́дливий (nerozsúdlyvyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- нерозва́жний (nerozvážnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- необа́чний (neobáčnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- безглу́здий (bezhlúzdyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- легкоду́мний (lehkodúmnyj)careless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Vietnamese bất cẩn
- bất cẩncareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Welsh anystyriol, di-hid
- anystyriolcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- di-hidcareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
- rhyfyguscareless or heedless; headstrong or rash
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with reckless
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
reckless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckless
MLA
“reckless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckless. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reckless,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckless.
Source: reckless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.