care

1. noun

1)

the care of the child

Syn:

safekeeping, supervision, custody, charge, protection, control, responsibility; guardianship, wardship

Ant:

neglect

2)

handle with care

Syn:

caution, carefulness, heedfulness, heed, attention, attentiveness

Ant:

carelessness

3)

she chose her words with care

Syn:

discretion, judiciousness, forethought, thought, regard, heed, mindfulness; accuracy, precision, discrimination

Ant:

carelessness

4)

the cares of the day

Syn:

worry, anxiety, trouble, concern, stress, pressure, strain; sorrow, woe, hardship

5)

care for the elderly

Syn:

help, aid, assistance, succor, support; concern, consideration, thought, regard, solicitude; informal TLC

Ant:

disregard

2. verb

the teachers didn't care about our work

- care for

Syn:

be concerned, worry (oneself), trouble oneself, concern oneself, bother, mind, be interested; informal give a damn, give a hoot

••

couldn't care less

Couldn't care less is the correct and logical phrasing, not could care less — e.g.: "The American people could care less [read couldn't care less] who's White House Chief of Staff." (George Will, on "This Week with David Brinkley"; July 3, 1994.) If you could care less, you’re saying that you do care some. Invariably, though, writers and speakers who use the phrase mean that they don't care at all. Although some apologists argue that could care less is meant to be sarcastic and not to be taken literally, a more plausible explanation is that the -n't of couldn't has been garbled in sloppy speech and sloppy writing. As American linguist Atcheson L. Hench explains: "A listener has not heard the whole phrase; he has heard a slurred form. Couldn't care has two dental stops practically together, dnt. This is heard only as d and slurring results. The outcome is I c'd care less." (American Speech, 159; 1973.) — BG