Dictionary

ataraxy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈatəɹaksi/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle French ataraxie, from Ancient Greek ἀταραξία (ataraxía, “impassiveness”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + ταράσσω (tarássō, “I disturb”). Doublet of ataraxia.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Ataraxia; freedom from mental disturbance; imperturbability, dogged indifference.
   • Youth all around prancing, vociferating, mocking; callow and alien youth, having to be looked after and studied and taught, as though nothing but it mattered, term after term—and now, all of a sudden, in mid-term, peace, ataraxy, a profound and leisured stillness. 1911, Max Beerbohm, chapter 21, in Zuleika Dobson, New York: John Lane, published 1912, page 319:
   • When the Pyrrhonians say, that ataraxy is the chiefe felicitie, which is the immobilitie of judgement, their meaning is not to speake it affirmatively[…]. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
   • There was no longer any need for fortitude: he felt nothing at present and there was no point in artificial ataraxy. 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:
   • I was nonplussed, I stared at my teacher, never before had his swollen face seemed so replete with indifference, stone ataraxy. 1993, Will Self, My Idea Of Fun:
2. (qualifier:pharmacy, uncountable, usually) State of psychological calm and tranquility, absence of discomfort, or metabolical inactivity.
   • Ataraxy can be produced by ataractics, drugs that have a calming or quieting effect. 2000, M. Basavanna, Dictionary of Psychology, Allied Publishers, →ISBN, page 28:

Forms

Relateds

ataractic