could care less

== English == === Etymology === 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”. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kəd kɛə ˈlɛs/ (General American) IPA(key): /kəd kɛ(ə)ɹ ˈlɛs/, /-ke(ə)ɹ-/ === Verb === could care less (past perfect could have cared less) (US, nonstandard, proscribed) To not care at all; to have no concern or interest; to be apathetic. Synonyms: couldn't care less, not give a tinker's cuss, not give a tinker's damn ==== Usage notes ==== Some consider this expression erroneous because the literal meaning of this version is the opposite of the intended meaning. Others consider it acceptable because it is widespread and because omission of -n't is an instance of Jespersen’s Cycle, a linguistic process attested elsewhere in English and in other languages. ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === “(I, etc.) could care less, colloquial phrase.” under “care, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1888. “I (or he, she, etc,) could care less, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.