indolence
UK /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ · US /ˈɪndl̩əns/ noun
Forms indolences
- noun Habitual laziness or sloth.
- noun (pathology) Lack of pain in a tumour.
- noun (obsolete) A state in which one feels no pain or is indifferent to it; a lack of any feeling.
- noun (obsolete) A state of repose in which neither pain nor pleasure is experienced.
Synonyms
accidie idleness inapplication indolency inexertion noynoying oisivity slothfulness sluggishness unservice unsensibleness laziness
Antonyms
application diligence hardworkingness industriousness industry
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French indolence, or from its etymon Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + dolēns (“hurting, suffering; grieving, lamenting”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Dolēns is the present participle of doleō (“to hurt, suffer; to be sorry, deplore, grieve for, lament”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to divide, split”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Freedom from that which pains, or harasses, as toil, care, grief, etc. [Obs.]
- noun The quality or condition of being indolent; inaction, or want of exertion of body or mind, proceeding from love of ease or aversion to toil; habitual idleness; indisposition to labor; laziness; sloth; inactivity.
Etymology [L. indolentia freedom from pain: cf. F. indolence.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “indolence”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details