Disinterested vs uninterested
Disinterested means fair to all sides because you have nothing to gain or lose. Uninterested means not interested and not caring about something.
Read interest as a stake, as in conflict of interest. A disinterested person has no stake. Uninterested is simply not interested.
disinterested adjective
Fair to all sides because you have nothing to gain or lose from the result.
- The two companies agreed to let a disinterested arbitrator settle the dispute.
- The league always assigns a disinterested referee with no ties to either team.
uninterested adjective
Not interested in something, and not caring about it.
- Voters appear largely uninterested in the debate over the new zoning rules.
- My cat seemed totally uninterested in her new toy.
Watch out
- Many people use disinterested to mean not interested. Dictionaries record this, but many readers and usage guides object to it, so careful writers say uninterested for that meaning.
Test yourself
The judge must be blank and have no stake in the case.
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disinterested. The judge must be fair and gain nothing from the result, so disinterested.
The kids were blank in the museum and wanted to go home.
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uninterested. They did not care about the museum, so uninterested.
He looked blank in the movie and fell asleep.
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uninterested. He did not care about the movie, so uninterested.
We needed someone blank, with nothing to gain either way, to decide who was right.
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disinterested. This person gains nothing from the result, so they can be fair. That is disinterested.
Full entries: disinteresteduninterested