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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

indolence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɪndl̩əns/ (General-American)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈɪndl̩(ə)ns/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

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”).

Meanings

  1. (uncountable, usually) Habitual laziness or sloth.
    • [T]here is an incessant and ever-flowing current of human affairs towards the worse, consisting of all the follies, all the vices, all the negligences, indolences, and supinenesses of mankind; which is only controlled, and kept from sweeping all before it, by the exertions which some persons constantly, and others by fits, put forth in the direction of good and worthy objects. 1861, John Stuart Mill, “The Criterion of a Good Form of Government”, in Considerations on Representative Government, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, […], →OCLC, page 26:
    • 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, volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], →OCLC, page 416:
    • 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 Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 14:
    • [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. 2001 September 10, Garrison Keillor, “In Praise of Laziness”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2014:
    • 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. These should not think to put away the tarnished name; but rather, by some new life and better efforts, to raise it from ignominy until it shows clean again. 1887 March, Leonard Kip, “The Puntacooset Colony”, in The Overland Monthly: Devoted to the Development of the Country, volume IX (Second Series), number 51, San Francisco, Calif.: Commercial Publishing Company, →OCLC, chapter VII, page 254, column 1:
    • 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. 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 229:
    • Her cheeks were glowing, and her whole figure expressed a tense vibrant life in singular contrast to the apparent indolence of the men at whom she was talking. 1912, Stewart Edward White, “Percy Keeps Vigil”, in The Sign at Six, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203:
    • 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 T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 633:
    • 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 with much indolence, though not with great pleasure. Their conversation is a kind of preparative for sleep: […] 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 Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 287:
    • To the man himself [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Nature had given, in high measure, the seeds of a noble endowment; […] but imbedded in such weak laxity of character, in such indolences and esuriences as had made strange work with it. 1851, Thomas Carlyle, “Coleridge”, in The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, part I, page 78:
  2. (uncountable, usually) Lack of pain in a tumour.
  3. (obsolete, uncountable, usually) 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:
  4. (obsolete, uncountable, usually) 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 Thomas Dring: […], →OCLC, 4th part (Containing the Cyrenaick, Megarick, Eleack, Eretriack Sects), section 2 (Of the End, or Chief Good), page [4A]:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
indolences Number=Plur lexicographic

Antonyms

industry · hardworkingness · application · diligence · industriousness

Relateds

indolency · indolent · indolently

Synonyms

indolency · unsensibleness · slothfulness · inapplication · oisivity · accidie · sluggishness · unservice · indolency · noynoying · indolency · inexertion · idleness

Translations (95)

gv neuvree (habitual laziness or sloth) · it pigrezza (habitual laziness or sloth) · grc ῥᾳστώνη (habitual laziness or sloth) · pl opieszałość (habitual laziness or sloth) · ru ле́ность (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh индолѐнција (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh indolèncija (habitual laziness or sloth) · gl indolencia (habitual laziness or sloth) · txb ālasäññe (habitual laziness or sloth) · ro lene (habitual laziness or sloth) · de Müßiggang (habitual laziness or sloth) · nl loomheid (habitual laziness or sloth) · fi laiskuus (habitual laziness or sloth) · de süßes Nichtstun (habitual laziness or sloth) · syc ܒܛܝܠܘܬܐ (habitual laziness or sloth) · la inertia (habitual laziness or sloth) · nl sloomheid (habitual laziness or sloth) · it neghienza (habitual laziness or sloth) · it poltroneria (habitual laziness or sloth) · it ignavia (habitual laziness or sloth) · fi kivuttomuus (lack of pain in a tumour) · it neghittaggine (habitual laziness or sloth) · ga sácráilteacht (habitual laziness or sloth) · bn অকরণ (habitual laziness or sloth) · la ignāvia (habitual laziness or sloth) · la pigritia (habitual laziness or sloth) · de Indolenz (lack of pain in a tumour) · sv lojhet (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh тро̏мо̄ст (habitual laziness or sloth) · hi सुस्ती (habitual laziness or sloth) · bg мързел (habitual laziness or sloth) · fr oisiveté (habitual laziness or sloth) · gl preguiza (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh лије́но̄ст (habitual laziness or sloth) · fro accide (habitual laziness or sloth) · sv slöhet (habitual laziness or sloth) · es indolencia (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh lenjost (habitual laziness or sloth) · ur سُسْتِی (habitual laziness or sloth) · gd leisg (habitual laziness or sloth) · mi rare (habitual laziness or sloth) · ota كسل (habitual laziness or sloth) · gl doca (habitual laziness or sloth) · mr सुस्ती (habitual laziness or sloth) · fi indolenssi (lack of pain in a tumour) · sv indolens (habitual laziness or sloth) · nl slapheid (habitual laziness or sloth) · ota تنبللك (habitual laziness or sloth) · ota هایلازلق (habitual laziness or sloth) · nl traagheid (habitual laziness or sloth) · fr indolence (habitual laziness or sloth) · hi अकर्मण्यता (habitual laziness or sloth) · it malvolere (habitual laziness or sloth) · pt indolência (habitual laziness or sloth) · el ραθυμία (habitual laziness or sloth) · de Indolenz (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh индолѐнтно̄ст (habitual laziness or sloth) · ja 惰気 (habitual laziness or sloth) · bg ленивост (habitual laziness or sloth) · el νωθρότητα (habitual laziness or sloth) · ka სიზარმაცე (habitual laziness or sloth) · ta அசமந்தம் (habitual laziness or sloth) · la pigrēdō (habitual laziness or sloth) · gl nugalla (habitual laziness or sloth) · mk де́нгуба (habitual laziness or sloth) · grc νωθρεία (habitual laziness or sloth) · la sōcordia (habitual laziness or sloth) · la frīgus (habitual laziness or sloth) · it indolenza (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh indolèntnōst (habitual laziness or sloth) · la sēgnitia (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh trȍmōst (habitual laziness or sloth) · el απραγμοσύνη (habitual laziness or sloth) · ro indolență (habitual laziness or sloth) · ru пра́здность (habitual laziness or sloth) · la dēsidia (habitual laziness or sloth) · ro moliciune (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh lijénōst (habitual laziness or sloth) · tl kabatuganan (habitual laziness or sloth) · la ōtium (habitual laziness or sloth) · az bekarçılıq (habitual laziness or sloth) · it poltronaggine (habitual laziness or sloth) · it neghittosità (habitual laziness or sloth) · mk мр́зливост (habitual laziness or sloth) · pl gnuśność (habitual laziness or sloth) · sh лењост (habitual laziness or sloth) · da sløvhed (habitual laziness or sloth) · ceb tapól (habitual laziness or sloth) · gl galbana (habitual laziness or sloth) · de Trägheit (habitual laziness or sloth) · te అలసత (habitual laziness or sloth) · ar بُطْء (habitual laziness or sloth) · da ligegyldighed (habitual laziness or sloth) · da indolens (habitual laziness or sloth) · ba ялҡаулыҡ (habitual laziness or sloth)