Indiscriminate means not making careful distinctions or choices, treating everything or everyone the same way without thought or judgment. When something is indiscriminate, it's random, careless, or haphazard.

A gardener who uses weed killer indiscriminately might spray it everywhere, killing the weeds along with the vegetables and flowers. An indiscriminate eater gobbles down everything on their plate without tasting or thinking about what they like or don't like. During a storm, lightning strikes indiscriminately: it doesn't pick its targets but hits whatever happens to be in its path.

The word often suggests a problem or something negative. Indiscriminate praise means complimenting everything equally, which can make the praise feel meaningless because nothing stands out as truly special. A teacher who hands out gold stars indiscriminately, giving them to students whether they tried hard or barely paid attention, quickly discovers that those stars lose their value.

Think of it this way: being discriminating means using good judgment to tell things apart. Being indiscriminate means the opposite: showing no judgment at all. When you choose books to read, you probably discriminate (in the positive sense), picking ones that interest you. But if you grabbed books indiscriminately, you'd end up with a random pile that might include some you'd love and others you'd find boring.