recklessly

English

Etymology

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

Adverb

recklessly (comparative more recklessly, superlative most recklessly)

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

     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.

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

     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.

2. With contempt for the rights, feelings, or well-being of others.

Translations

in a reckless manner

• Catalan: temeràriament (ca)
• Finnish: uhkarohkeasti, rämäpäisesti
• Georgian: წინდაუხედავად (c̣indauxedavad), დაუდევრად (daudevrad)
• German: leichtsinnig (de)
• Polish: bez głowy (pl)
• Portuguese: irresponsavelmente (pt)
• Russian: опроме́тчиво (ru) (oprométčivo)
• Spanish: a las bravas, a troche y moche, de hoz y coz ((usu. preceded by meterse)), temerariamente (es), irresponsablemente (es)

with contempt of others

• Finnish: edesvastuuttomasti, piittaamattomasti
• German: rücksichtslos (de)
• Russian: опроме́тчиво (ru) (oprométčivo)
• Spanish: precipitadamente (es)