Basic Details
Word: Recklessness
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Acting without thinking about danger or about what might happen as a result.
Synonyms: rashness, carelessness, foolhardiness
Antonyms: caution, care, prudence
Word origin: From Old English recceleas, careless, from reccan, to care or take heed.
How to Spell Recklessness
Syllables: reck - less - ness
Tricky part: The word is built in three parts, reck + less + ness, and both of the last two parts end in ss. Students often drop one s or slip an extra e in after the k.
Watch out for: recklesness, reckelessness, reklessness
Memory tip: Count the pairs: less brings two s's and ness brings two more, so recklessness has four s's in two neat pairs.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The coach warned that recklessness in the tackle could get a player sent off.
Example 2: Jumping from the moving train was an act of pure recklessness.
Example 3: His recklessness with money left him with nothing by the end of the month.
Fun Fact
Reckless has nothing to do with a wreck. It goes back to an old verb, reck, meaning to care, which still appears in some dictionaries, so a reckless person is simply one who does not care about the risk.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word recklessness as used in the sentence:
The recklessness of the bike rider on the wet ghat road frightened everyone in the bus.
a) rashness
b) carelessness
c) haste
d) caution
Show answer
d) caution. Caution means taking care to avoid danger, the exact reverse of the rider's behaviour; rashness and carelessness say the same as the word.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words takes the suffix ness to make a real noun. Choose it:
ness
a) refuse
b) decide
c) reckless
d) admire
Show answer
c) reckless. Refuse, admire and decide have nouns of their own - refusal, admiration, decision - while reckless just adds ness.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Speeding past a school gate at lunchtime is sheer sselnekcsres.
a) helplessness
b) carelessness
c) recklessness
d) restlessness
Show answer
c) recklessness. Look for the k: of the four, only recklessness has one, and the jumble has no t, a or p for the others.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these shows recklessness?
a) crossing a busy road without looking
b) wearing a helmet on a scooter
c) checking the brakes before a ride
d) waiting for the green signal
Show answer
a) crossing a busy road without looking
2. A reckless driver is one who ____.
a) drives very slowly
b) owns many cars
c) repairs engines
d) ignores danger
Show answer
d) ignores danger
