listlessness en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree Middle English lystles English listless Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English listlessness From listless + -ness.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) The state of being listless; apathetic indifference; lethargy.
[…] lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature; and every strange, half-seen, gliding, beautiful thing that eludes him; every dimly-discovered, uprising fin of some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 35”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:But every thing must have an end. A motion made by this angelic youth, in the listlessness of going off sleep, replac'd his shirt and the bed-cloaths in a posture that shut up that treasure from longer view.
1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:This sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of every thing’s being dull and insipid about the house!— I must be in love; I should be the oddest creature in the world if I were not—for a few weeks at least.
1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 12:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| listlessnesses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (21)
la torpor (state of being listless) · de Lustlosigkeit (state of being listless) · la ignavia (state of being listless) · tr usantı (state of being listless) · tr uyuşukluk (state of being listless) · ota گوشكلك (state of being listless) · tr bıkkınlık (state of being listless) · got 𐌿𐌽𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (state of being listless) · eo spleno (state of being listless) · el ακηδία (state of being listless) · ga díbheocht (state of being listless) · nl lusteloosheid (state of being listless) · tr bezginlik (state of being listless) · pl anemiczność (state of being listless) · ru вялость (state of being listless) · el νωθρότητα (state of being listless) · scn siḍḍiju (state of being listless) · mi tīrohea (state of being listless) · tr usanç (state of being listless) · la veternus (state of being listless) · el ατονία (state of being listless)