inattentive.

Failing to notice or follow something that calls for attention.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• inattentive reading
• inattentive listener

On the page

Inattentive reading turned a qualification into a categorical claim.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Comparative more inattentive; superlative most inattentive when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, behavior. Commonness: moderately common.