recklessly

R1E1C3K5L1E1S1S1L1Y4

adverb

In a rash or reckless manner, without regard for cost or consequence.

Less commonScrabble 19

Meanings

adverbrecklessly (comparative more recklessly, superlative most recklessly)

comparative more recklessly · superlative most recklessly

  1. In a rash or reckless manner, without regard for cost or consequence.

    Brooks was also convicted of 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon, six counts of fatal hit and run, two counts of felony bail jumping and one count of misdemeanor domestic battery.

    2022 October 26, Christina Zdanowicz, Claudia Dominguez, Lauren M. Johnson and Sara Smart, “The Waukesha victims included an 8-year-old boy, a loving grandmother and a woman excited to make her debut in the Dancing Grannies”, in CNN
    3 more examples

    Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

    1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056

    Zoe popped her head up to watch in terror through a little window, as they spread chaos and carnage in their wake, not to mention quite a few broken-off wing mirrors. Burt was driving so recklessly, she was frightened he would kill them both.

    2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

    But some Democrats are raising red flags about DOGE staffers “infiltrating multiple agencies at once,” and “recklessly and haphazardly combining data without any verification or validation,” as one senior House Oversight Committee Democratic staffer put it to CNN.

    2025 April 25, Priscilla Alvarez, Sunlen Serfaty, Marshall Cohen and Tami Luhby, “DOGE is building a master database for immigration enforcement, sources say”, in CNN
  2. With contempt for the rights, feelings, or well-being of others.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*rōkijaną
  2. Proto-West Germanic*rōkijan
  3. Old Englishrēċan
  4. Proto-Indo-European*lewh₁-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*lewHs-
  6. Proto-Germanic*leusaną
  7. Proto-Germanic*lausaz
  8. Old Englishrēċelēas
  9. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  10. Proto-Germanic*līką
  11. Old Englishrēċelēaslīċe
  12. Middle Englishreklesly
  13. Englishrecklessly

From Middle English reklesly, from Old English rēcelēaslīce; equivalent to reckless + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian безразсъдно
  • безразсъдно (bezrazsădno)in a reckless manner
Catalan temeràriament
  • temeràriamentin a reckless manner
Finnish uhkarohkeasti, rämäpäisesti
  • uhkarohkeastiin a reckless manner
  • rämäpäisestiin a reckless manner
  • edesvastuuttomastiwith contempt of others
  • piittaamattomastiwith contempt of others
German leichtsinnig, rücksichtslos
  • leichtsinnigin a reckless manner
  • rücksichtsloswith contempt of others
Polish bez głowy
  • bez głowyin a reckless manner
Portuguese irresponsavelmente
  • irresponsavelmentein a reckless manner
Russian опроме́тчиво, опроме́тчиво
  • опроме́тчиво (oprométčivo)in a reckless manner
  • опроме́тчиво (oprométčivo)with contempt of others
Spanish a las bravas, a troche y moche
  • a las bravasin a reckless manner
  • a troche y mochein a reckless manner
  • de hoz y cozin a reckless manner
  • temerariamentein a reckless manner
  • irresponsablementein a reckless manner
  • precipitadamentewith contempt of others
Cite this entry
APA

recklessly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recklessly

MLA

“recklessly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recklessly. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “recklessly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recklessly.

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