couldn't care less

English

Adjective

couldn't care less (comparative more couldn't care less, superlative most couldn't care less)

1. Alternative spelling of couldn't-care-less

Verb

couldn't care less (simple past couldn't have cared less)

1. (idiomatic) to not care at all; to have no interest or concern; to be apathetic.
   • 1987, Gary Clark (lyrics and music), “Mary's Prayer”, performed by Danny Wilson:

     I used to be so careless / As if I couldn't care less

Usage notes

A more recent variant could care less appeared in the United States, but is deprecated by many prescriptivists and is uncommon in most other English-speaking regions.

Synonyms

• could not care less
• could care less (US)
• not give a tinker's damn
• not give a tinker's cuss

Translations

to lack interest

• Finnish: ei voisi vähempää kiinnostaa, vähät välittää
• French: n’en avoir rien à foutre (fr)
• Galician: tanto me ten, tanto me dá
• German: auf etwas pfeifen, nicht um etwas / jemanden scheren, einen Dreck kümmern
• Greek: δεν μου καίγεται καρφί (el) (den mou kaígetai karfí)
• Italian: fregarsene (it), non me ne può fregar di meno, fottersene, infischiarsene, sbattersene
• Ladino: koza ke no me inche
• Polish: mieć gdzieś (pl)
• Spanish: traer sin cuidado, traer al fresco, traer al pairo, pasar olímpicamente (colloquial)