otiose

[ oh-shee-ohs, oh-tee- ]

adjective

1. being at leisure; idle; indolent.

   Synonyms: lazy, slothful

2. ineffective or futile.

   Synonyms: profitless, hollow, vain, ineffectual

3. superfluous or useless.

   Synonyms: pointless, worthless, redundant

otiose

/ ˈəʊtɪˌəʊs; ˌəʊtɪˈɒsɪtɪ; -ˌəʊz /

adjective

1. serving no useful purpose

   otiose language

2. rare.
   indolent; lazy

Derived Forms

• otiosity, noun

Other Words From

• o·ti·ose·ly adverb
• o·ti·os·i·ty [oh-shee-, os, -i-tee, oh-tee-], o·ti·ose·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of otiose¹

First recorded in 1785–95; from Latin ōtiōsus “at leisure, inactive, undisturbed,” equivalent to ōti(um) “leisure, spare time” + -ōsus adjective suffix; -ose ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of otiose¹

C18: from Latin ōtiōsus leisured, from ōtium leisure

Example Sentences

There is no superfluous ornament in his orations, nothing tawdry, nothing otiose.

From Project Gutenberg

Do they serve to direct observation, colligate data, and guide experimentation, or are they otiose?

From Project Gutenberg

A historian may be a theist; but, so far as his work is concerned, this particular belief is otiose.

From Project Gutenberg

Searching comparisons between the arts of Strindberg and Shakespeare are otiose.

From Project Gutenberg

The principle "same cause, same effect," which philosophers imagine to be vital to science, is therefore utterly otiose.

From Project Gutenberg