insouciant

marked by blithe unconcern; nonchalant


(pronounced in-SOO-see-unt) From the June 13 & 20 issue of the New Yorker: “The movie [Mr. and Mrs. Smith] was made in the evident belief that if violence comes off as insouciant and zippy it will be taken as the latest in sophisticated fun.”

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2 Responses to insouciant

  1. Jason Harrod says:

    I love this word. I always associate it with “insouciant youth,” hormone-filled teenagers who don’t care what other people think. Like early Clash or something. I guess there are a few people who are insouciant and old, like Katherine Hepburn or something, but I can’t think of many.

  2. Karl says:

    Thanks for the word association, Jason. What a coincidence. I just ran across the word this morning again in a book I’m reading, The Dream of Scipio: “the insouciant Bernard, making the grand gesture in the name both of friendship and of self-aggrandizement, his actions extravagant but generous.” Bernard is a youth.

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