indolence
Syllables: in·dol·ence/ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/US/ˈɪndl̩əns/
indolence noun: habitual laziness or sloth.
Noun
indolence (usually uncountable, plural indolences)
- Habitual laziness or sloth.
- After having applied my mind with more than ordinary attention to my studies, it is my usual custom to relax and unbend it in the conversation of such as are rather easy than shining companions. […] This is the particular use I make of a set of heavy honest men, with whom I have passed many hours...1710 February 21 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Friday, February 11, 1709–10”, in The Tatler, number 132; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The...
- The sacred indolence of the monks was devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of the republic.1781, Edward Gibbon, “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and...
- Synonyms:
- accidie, idleness, inapplication, indolency, inexertion, noynoying, oisivity, slothfulness, sluggishness, unservice
- Antonyms:
- application, diligence, hardworkingness, industriousness, industry
- Lack of pain in a tumour.
- A state in which one feels no pain or is indifferent to it; a lack of any feeling.
- Novv, to begin vvith Fortitude, they ſay it is the meane betvveen Covvardiſe & raſh Audacitie, […] Clemencie & Mildneſſe, betvveene ſenſeleſſe Indolence and Crueltie: […]1603, Plutarch, “Of Morall Vertue”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 69
- Synonyms:
- unsensibleness, indolency
- A state of repose in which neither pain nor pleasure is experienced.
- Indolence, vvhich Epicure held, they eſteem not pleaſure, nor vvant of pleaſure, griefe, for both theſe conſiſt in motion; but Indolence and vvant of pleaſure conſiſts not in motion, for Indolence is like the ſtate of a ſleeping man.1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[The Cyrenaick Sect. Aristippus.] Chap[ter] IV. His Institution of a Sect.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and...
- Synonyms:
- indolency
indolence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
indolence in Hindi
- habitual laziness or sloth
- अकर्मण्यता akarmaṇyatā, सुस्ती sustī
indolence in Tamil
- habitual laziness or sloth
- அசமந்தம் acamantam
indolence in Marathi
- habitual laziness or sloth
- सुस्ती sustī
indolence in Urdu
- habitual laziness or sloth
- سُسْتِی sustī
More languagesFewer languages
- indolence in Bengali
- অকরণ okron
- indolence in Telugu
- అలసత alasata
- indolence in Malayalam
- മടി, മാന്ദ്യം, ആഹിസ്താ, മന്ദത
- indolence in Kannada
- ಸೋಮಾರಿತನ, ಅಲಸತೆ, ಪಾಲುಮಾರಿಗೆ, ಮೈಗಳ್ಳತನ
- indolence in Tagalog
- kabatuganan
- indolence in Arabic
- بُطْء buṭʔ
Examples of indolence in a sentence
- He [Samuel Johnson] ſeemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procraſtination vvere inherent in his conſtitution, vvhenever he made an exertion he did more than any one elſe.1791, James Boswell, “[1712]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for...
- 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.1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page...
- Heedless of the rights of fellows and founders' bequests, of sleepy dignities and established indolences, they re-established long-dormant lectures in the colleges.1856, James Anthony Froude, “The Visitation of the Monasteries”, in History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth...
- There are others who have let their reputations become incrusted or blighted with indolences, or self-indulgence, or errors that are not errors unto death.1887 March, Leonard Kip, “The Puntacooset Colony”, in The Overland Monthly: Devoted to the Development of the Country, volume IX (Second...
Synonyms of indolence
- accidie
- idleness
- inapplication
- inexertion
- noynoying
- slothfulness
- sluggishness
- indolency
- oisivity
- unservice
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of indolence
| plural | indolences |
|---|
Origin of indolence
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”).
Questions about indolence
- What does indolence mean?
- Indolence means habitual laziness or sloth.
- What is indolence in Hindi?
- Indolence in Hindi is अकर्मण्यता (akarmaṇyatā), सुस्ती (sustī). See Indolence meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use indolence in a sentence?
- He [Samuel Johnson] ſeemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procraſtination vvere inherent in his conſtitution, vvhenever he made an exertion he did more than any one elſe.
- What part of speech is indolence?
- Indolence is a noun.
- How do you pronounce indolence?
- Indolence is pronounced /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of indolence?
- The plural of indolence is indolences.
Words near indolence in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: indolence (page history and authors); indolence (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); indolence (Kannada Wiktionary) (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)-Vealhurl-indolence.wav.
Cite this entry: “indolence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indolence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.