"Disinterested" = impartial, with no personal stake; "uninterested" = bored or not interested in something.
Impartial, having no personal stake in the outcome. Does NOT mean bored or lacking interest.
We need a disinterested third party to mediate the dispute fairly.
A judge must remain disinterested — personal relationships with either party are grounds for recusal.
She offered disinterested advice because she had nothing to gain from the outcome.
Lacking interest, bored, or indifferent. The person simply does not care about something.
The students seemed completely uninterested in the lecture and kept checking their phones.
He was uninterested in sports and preferred spending his weekends reading.
She seemed uninterested in the job offer, so they moved on to the next candidate.
Common mistake
Using "disinterested" to mean bored or not caring. "I am disinterested in politics" technically means you are impartial about politics. If you mean something does not interest you: "I am uninterested in politics". That said, using "disinterested" to mean "uninterested" is so common today that many dictionaries now list both meanings.
Trick to remember it
Dis- in "disinterested" = "without personal interest" (impartial). Un- in "uninterested" = "not interested" (bored/indifferent). In legal or formal contexts where impartiality matters: disinterested. For everything else: uninterested.
Quick rule
Disinterested = impartial (no personal stake in the outcome). Uninterested = bored, lacking interest in something.
Did you know?
This distinction is a classic battleground between English prescriptivists (who defend "correct" rules) and descriptivists (who document real English). The use of "disinterested" to mean "uninterested" has centuries of documentation — Samuel Johnson included it that way in his 1755 dictionary.
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The arbitrator must be completely _____ — she cannot have any financial ties to either company.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The teenager looked completely _____ during the family dinner, barely looking up from his phone.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Disinterested = impartial (no personal stake in the outcome). Uninterested = bored, lacking interest in something.
Using "disinterested" to mean bored or not caring. "I am disinterested in politics" technically means you are impartial about politics. If you mean something does not interest you: "I am uninterested in politics". That said, using "disinterested" to mean "uninterested" is so common today that many dictionaries now list both meanings.
Dis- in "disinterested" = "without personal interest" (impartial). Un- in "uninterested" = "not interested" (bored/indifferent). In legal or formal contexts where impartiality matters: disinterested. For everything else: uninterested.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy