could care less
English · Thesaurus
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could care less
- /kəd kɛə ˈlɛs/ UK
- /kəd kɛ(ə)ɹ ˈlɛs/ US
- /-ke(ə)ɹ-/ US
Where it comes from
An alteration of couldn’t care less (which is first attested slightly earlier), either:
* by deliberate irony, or
* by hyponegation, perhaps influenced by forms such as “as if I could care less”, “no one could care less”, and “to know little (or nothing) and care less”.
verb could have cared less
-
To not care at all; to have no concern or interest; to be apathetic.
Farmers knew that dead fish made plants go better. They could care less about why that happened. Scientists could not sleep until they found out why.
Similar: couldn't care less, not give a tinker's cuss, not give a tinker's damn
Talk about this word "could care less." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/could%20care%20less. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. could care less. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/could%20care%20less "could care less." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/could%20care%20less.Cite this
@misc{could_care_less_2026,
title = {could care less},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/could%20care%20less},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
