Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Inertia
2.
Inertness; indisposition to motion, exertion, or action; lack of energy; sluggishness.
Men . . . have immense irresolution and
inertia
. Carlyle.
3.
(Med.)
Lack of activity; sluggishness; – said especially of the uterus, when, in labor, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.
Definition 2024
inertia
inertia
English
Noun
inertia (countable and uncountable, plural inertias or inertiae or inertiæ)
- (physics, uncountable or countable) The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.
- (figuratively) In a person, unwillingness to take action.
- Carlyle
- Men […] have immense irresolution and inertia.
- 2014, Jacob Steinberg, "Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian, 9 March 2014:
- City had been woeful, their anger at their own inertia summed up when Samir Nasri received a booking for dissent, and they did not have a shot on target until the 66th minute.
- Carlyle
- (medicine) Lack of activity; sluggishness; said especially of the uterus, when, in labour, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.
Synonyms
- (unwillingness to take action): idleness, laziness, sloth, slothfulness
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
in physics
|
|
unwillingness to take action
Finnish
Noun
inertia
Declension
| Inflection of inertia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | inertia | inertiat | |
| genitive | inertian | inertioiden inertioitten |
|
| partitive | inertiaa | inertioita | |
| illative | inertiaan | inertioihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | inertia | inertiat | |
| accusative | nom. | inertia | inertiat |
| gen. | inertian | ||
| genitive | inertian | inertioiden inertioitten inertiainrare |
|
| partitive | inertiaa | inertioita | |
| inessive | inertiassa | inertioissa | |
| elative | inertiasta | inertioista | |
| illative | inertiaan | inertioihin | |
| adessive | inertialla | inertioilla | |
| ablative | inertialta | inertioilta | |
| allative | inertialle | inertioille | |
| essive | inertiana | inertioina | |
| translative | inertiaksi | inertioiksi | |
| instructive | — | inertioin | |
| abessive | inertiatta | inertioitta | |
| comitative | — | inertioineen | |
Latin
Etymology
From iners (“without skill; inactive”), from in- (“not”) + ars (“art, skill”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /inˈer.ti.a/
Noun
inertia f (genitive inertiae); first declension
- want of art or skill, unskillfulness, ignorance
- (by extension) inactivity, idleness, laziness, indolence
Inflection
First declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | inertia | inertiae |
| genitive | inertiae | inertiārum |
| dative | inertiae | inertiīs |
| accusative | inertiam | inertiās |
| ablative | inertiā | inertiīs |
| vocative | inertia | inertiae |
Related terms
- iners
- inersitūdō
- inerticulus
Descendants
References
- inertia in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- inertia in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- INERTIA in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “inertia”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.