dispassionate

adjective

dis·​pas·​sion·​ate (ˌ)dis-ˈpa-sh(ə-)nət 

: not influenced by strong feeling

especially : not affected by personal or emotional involvement

a dispassionate critic

a dispassionate approach to an issue

dispassionately adverb

dispassionateness noun

Synonyms

• candid
• disinterested
• equal
• equitable
• evenhanded
• fair
• impartial
• indifferent
• just
• nonpartisan
• objective
• square
• unbiased
• unprejudiced

Choose the Right Synonym for dispassionate

fair, just, equitable, impartial, unbiased, dispassionate, objective mean free from favor toward either or any side.

fair implies a proper balance of conflicting interests.

a fair decision

just implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper.

a just settlement of territorial claims

equitable implies a less rigorous standard than just and usually suggests equal treatment of all concerned.

the equitable distribution of the property

impartial stresses an absence of favor or prejudice.

an impartial third party

unbiased implies even more strongly an absence of all prejudice.

your unbiased opinion

dispassionate suggests freedom from the influence of strong feeling and often implies cool or even cold judgment.

a dispassionate summation of the facts

objective stresses a tendency to view events or persons as apart from oneself and one's own interest or feelings.

I can't be objective about my own child

Examples of dispassionate in a Sentence

Journalists aim to be dispassionate observers.

He spoke in a dispassionate tone about the accident.

Recent Examples on the Web

Writers’ obsessions can illuminate their subjects in ways that more dispassionate approaches can’t. —Isaac Butler, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2024

David Hume chimed in, two centuries later, to argue that judgments of right and wrong emanate from emotion and social conditioning, not the dispassionate application of reason. —Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024

Her protagonist, Sadie Smith, is another dispassionate observer, but one who appears to have far more independence and agency than her predecessors. —Lily Meyer, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2024

The resulting video showed millions of non-Latino Americans what has made Ramos a star: an ability to seem like both a dispassionate arbiter of the news and an outspoken proxy for his viewers. —Stephania Taladrid, The New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

dispassionate

adjective

dis·​pas·​sion·​ate (ˈ)dis-ˈpash-(ə-)nət 

: not influenced by strong feeling : calm, impartial

a dispassionate judge

dispassionately adverb