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Webster 1913 Edition
Indolence
In′do-lence
,Noun.
[L.
indolentia
freedom from pain: cf. F. indolence
.] 1.
Freedom from that which pains, or harasses, as toil, care, grief, etc.
[Obs.]
I have ease, if it may not rather be called
indolence
. Bp. Hough.
2.
The quality or condition of being indolent; inaction, or lack of exertion of body or mind, proceeding from love of ease or aversion to toil; habitual idleness; indisposition to labor; laziness; sloth; inactivity.
Life spent in
indolence
, and therefore sad. Cowper.
As there is a great truth wrapped up in “diligence,” what a lie, on the other hand, lurks at the root of our present use of the word “
indolence
”! This is from “in” and “doleo,” not to grieve; and indolence
is thus a state in which we have no grief or pain; so that the word, as we now employ it, seems to affirm that indulgence in sloth and ease is that which would constitute for us the absence of all pain. Trench.
Webster 1828 Edition
Indolence
IN'DOLENCE
,Noun.
1.
Literally, freedom from pain.2.
Habitual idleness; indisposition to labor; laziness; inaction or want of exertion of body or mind, proceeding from love of ease or aversion to toil. Indolence, like laziness, implies a constitutional or habitual love of ease; idleness does not.Definition 2024
indolence
indolence
English
Noun
indolence (plural indolences)
- Habitual laziness or sloth.
- 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ch. 11:
- "It is indolence, Mr. Bertram, indeed. Indolence and love of ease; a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen."
- 1912, Stewart Edward White, The Sign at Six, ch. 19:
- [H]er whole figure expressed a tense vibrant life in singular contrast to the apparent indolence of the men at whom she was talking.
- 2001 Sept. 10, Garrison Keillor, "In Praise of Lasiness," Time (retrieved 24 March 2014):
- [N]ow, after five weeks of doing nothing, I am an authority on the subject of indolence and glad to share my views with you.
- 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ch. 11:
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
Habitual laziness or sloth
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin indolentia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛ̃dɔlɑ̃s/
Noun
indolence f (uncountable)
- (obsolete) insensibility, lack of pain
- laziness, indolence