insecure
/ˌɪnsɪˈkjʊə
/ /ˌɪnsɪˈkjɔː/adjective
1Uncertain or anxious about oneself; not confident: a rather gauche, insecure young man a top model who is notoriously insecure about her looks...
- Many of these children become aligned with only one parent so they become less anxious and insecure.
- And they are not insecure, fearful, anxious as so many of their peers are.
- A fanatical believer is a very insecure and fearful person.
Synonyms
unconfident, lacking confidence, lacking self-confidence, not self-assured, diffident, self-effacing, self-conscious, unforthcoming, uncertain, unsure, doubtful, self-doubting, hesitant, unassertive, retiring, shrinking, shy, timid, timorous, meek, passive, inhibited, introverted;
anxious, fearful, apprehensive, worried, ill at ease
informal mousy
2(Of a thing) not firm or fixed; liable to give way or break: an insecure footbridge...
- By a cruel twist the town's All Saints' Church was locked for much of last week because one of its inner doors was insecure.
- The buses banned immediately were found to have defective brakes, tyres, air leaks, insecure doors and seats.
2.1Not sufficiently protected; easily broken into: an insecure computer system...
- Just look at Microsoft's buggy, insecure personal computer operating systems over the years.
- His answers were not satisfactory, and it appeared that he may well have been referring, not to the hazard lights, but to an internal warning light telling him that there was an open or insecure door.
- It must be brought in before the Olympics to protect those in this insecure accommodation.
Synonyms
unguarded, unprotected, ill-protected, vulnerable, defenceless, undefended, unshielded, exposed, assailable, open to attack, in danger;
unlocked, unbolted, unfastened, unsecured
rare pregnable
3(Of a job or situation) liable to change for the worse; not permanent or settled: badly paid and insecure jobs a financially insecure period...
- The military takes care of all the tasks that it can take care of so long as the situation is insecure.
- She didn't mean religious beliefs, only faith in some higher values, in some higher reality that made them feel secure in a very insecure situation.
- I think the editorial went on to point out that, in addition to that, the political situation is very insecure.
Derivatives
insecurely
/ /ˌɪnsɪˈkjɔːli / adverb ...- Sybil was sitting insecurely on a huge, inflated beach ball, facing the ocean.
- Replies were written by civil servants before the letters were insecurely dumped.
- Falling outside both British standards of social status and Australian standards of egalitarianism, the gentry was an insecurely self-defined status group with a paradoxically profound sense of its own social importance.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from medieval Latin insecurus 'unsafe', from in- 'not' + Latin securus 'free from care', or from in-1 'not' + secure.
sure from Middle English:
This is from Old French sur, from Latin securus ‘free from care’. The same Latin word gives us security (Late Middle English), the legal surety (Middle English), and insecure (mid 17th century) ‘not free from care’, as well as assure (Late Middle English). See curate