Dictionary

ataraxia en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ætəˈɹæksiə/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀταραξία (ataraxía), ἀ- (a-, negative prefix) + ταράσσω (tarássō, “trouble, disturb”). Doublet of ataraxy.

Meanings

1. (Greek, literary, uncountable, usually) Tranquility of mind; absence of mental disturbance.
   • And what happineſs is there in a ſtorm of paſſions? On this account the Scepticks affected an indifferent æquipondious neutrality as the only means to their Ataraxia, and freedom from paßionate diſturbances. 1665, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XXVII, in Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; in an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing, and Confident Opinion with a Reply to the Exceptions of the Learned Thomas Albius, London: E. Cotes, page 168:
   • O, for that apathy of soul, that sweet ataraxia, of which I have heard, which forbids alike the approaches of pleasure and pain, hope and despair! 1838, Piomingo, John Robinson, The Savage, 2nd edition, Philadelphia: J. Ferral, →OCLC, →OL, page 194:
   • Near-synonyms: ataraxy, peace of mind, unflappability, unperturbedness
   • […] he was an Epicurean not in the commonly misunderstood sense, as a seeker after luxury, but in the true meaning, as a pursuer of what the Greeks call ataraxia, or freedom from disturbance. 2006, Robert Harris, Imperium, London: Arrow Books, Part 2, Chapter 15, p. 400:
   • Once they’d seen that the world is nothing but atoms and void, and that we simply disintegrate after death, and so have no need to fear the Torments of Hell, they would be in a better position to cultivate ataraxia—the Greek word for the calm, unruffled composure that was the Epicurean ideal. 2020, Coulter H. George, How Dead Languages Work, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 3 'Latin' p.67:
   • That terrible Latin poet Lucretius, whose apparent serenity and Epicurean ataraxia conceal so much despair, said that piety consists in the power to contemplate all things with a serene soul—pacata posse mente omnia tueri. 1921, J.E. Crawford Flitch, transl., The Tragic Sense Of Life, translation of Del sentimiento trágico de la vida by Miguel de Unamuno:

Forms

Relateds

no problem · ataractic · Epicureanism · ataraxy · stoicism · no worries

Synonyms

unperturbedness · peace of mind · ataraxy · unflappability

Translations (24)

it atarassia (absence of mental disturbance) · fr ataraxie (absence of mental disturbance) · ga ataraicse (absence of mental disturbance) · uk атараксія (absence of mental disturbance) · ru атара́ксия (absence of mental disturbance) · cs ataraxie (absence of mental disturbance) · pt ataraxia (absence of mental disturbance) · eu ataraxia (absence of mental disturbance) · tr ataraksiya (absence of mental disturbance) · el αταραξία (absence of mental disturbance) · pl ataraksja (absence of mental disturbance) · ga ataráisce (absence of mental disturbance) · sh атараксија (absence of mental disturbance) · fi mielenrauha (absence of mental disturbance) · ca ataràxia (absence of mental disturbance) · de Ataraxie (absence of mental disturbance) · fi ataraksia (absence of mental disturbance) · lt ataraksija (absence of mental disturbance) · be атараксія (absence of mental disturbance) · es ataraxia (absence of mental disturbance) · io ataraxio (absence of mental disturbance) · hy ատարաքսիա (absence of mental disturbance) · ro ataraxie (absence of mental disturbance) · fi tyyneys (absence of mental disturbance)