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I know that they are synonyms. But is there any slight difference between them?

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    Please edit your question to include research you've done and your own understanding of the two words up to this point. (For example, have you contrasted their definitions using a dictionary? Compared sentences from books or online resources to see how they are used differently?)
    – pyobum
    Apr 3, 2015 at 8:02
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    I completely agree with @pyobum here. You got three answers in two hours, and, for the most part, these answers simply gave two definitions and said little else. This question makes ELL look like a dictionary concierge service. Please, research this on your own first, and then share the results of that research, so we can start the conversation from there.
    – J.R. ♦
    Apr 3, 2015 at 10:08

3 Answers 3

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Careless and Irresponsible have lot of difference in meaning.

Careless - Taking insufficient care.

"It is natural for careless writers to run into faults they never think of"

Irresponsible - One who has no sense of responsibility.

"behaved like an irresponsible idiot"

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    Thanks a lot. I think I got it now. If you forget about you tasks you're probably careless. But if you don't care (don't want to care for/thinks it's not important) about your child properly than you're irresponsible. Are these examples correct?
    – Roman T.
    Apr 3, 2015 at 9:20
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They are different terms:

Careless -

Not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoiding harm or errors.

Irresponsible -

A person not showing a proper sense of responsibility.

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They are very different, cannot be used interchangeably at all.

Careless — Do not care.

Irresponsible — It is your responsibility to "care" but you did not.

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    Cannot be used interchangeably at all? I disagree; they may not be complete synonyms, but there is still quite a bit of overlap. Imagine me telling my 10-year-old son: "You left your baseball glove out in the rain; that was very _______ of you." I'd say either word could fill in the blank, and the sentence meaning doesn't change very much.
    – J.R. ♦
    Apr 3, 2015 at 10:10

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