Word.ws English Dictionary

idleness

Syllables: idle·ness/ˈaɪdəlnəs/

idleness noun: the state of being idle; inactivity.

Noun

idleness (countable and uncountable, plural idlenesses)

  1. The state of being idle; inactivity.
  2. The state of being indolent; indolence.
    • For either they be puffed vp vvith pride, / Or fraught vvith enuie that their galls do ſvvell, / Or they their dayes to ydleneſſe diuide, / Or drovvnded lie in pleaſures vvaſtefull vvell, / In vvhich like Moldvvarps [i.e., moles] nouſling ſtill they lurke, / Vnmyndfull of chiefe parts of...1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature D3, verso
  3. Groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality; vanity; frivolity.

idleness meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

idleness in Hindi

state of being idle; inactivity
निष्क्रियता niṣkriytā

idleness in Tamil

சோம்பல், மடிமை, சோர்வு, இயங்காமை, அசைவின்மை

idleness in Urdu

آلس, کسل, سستی

idleness in Malayalam

ഉപേക്ഷ, ഉദാസീനത, അലസത, മടി
More languagesFewer languages
idleness in Kannada
ಅಲವರಿಕೆ, ಸೋಮಾರಿಯಾಗಿರುವಿಕೆ, ಮೈಗಳ್ಳನಾಗಿರುವಿಕೆ, ಕಾಲಹರಣ ಮಾಡುವಿಕೆ
idleness in Punjabi
ਬੇਕਾਰੀ bekārī
idleness in Odia
ସାଦ sāda
idleness in Sanskrit
आलस्य ā́lasya

Forms of idleness

pluralidlenesses

Origin of idleness

From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdlanassī, equivalent to idle + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).

Words formed from idleness

Phrases with idleness

Questions about idleness

What does idleness mean?
Idleness means the state of being idle; inactivity.
What is idleness in Hindi?
Idleness in Hindi is निष्क्रियता (niṣkriytā). See Idleness meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is idleness?
Idleness is a noun.
How do you pronounce idleness?
Idleness is pronounced /ˈaɪdəlnəs/.
What is the plural of idleness?
The plural of idleness is idlenesses.

Words near idleness in the dictionary

  1. idlehead
  2. idleheaded
  3. idleheads
  4. idlehood
  5. idlely
  6. idleness
  7. idlenesses
  8. idler
  9. idler wheel
  10. idler-wheel
  11. idlers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: idleness (page history and authors); idleness (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); idleness (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); idleness (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); idleness (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬੇਕਾਰੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ସାଦ (Odia) (page history and authors); आलस्य (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-idleness.wav.

Cite this entry: “idleness.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/idleness. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.