apathy
Americannoun
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absence of interest in or enthusiasm for things generally considered interesting or moving
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absence of emotion
Usage
What does apathy mean? Apathy is the state of not caring. The word is especially used to refer to a lack of interest or concern about things, especially those that others find important or exciting. It can also mean the absence or suppression of emotion or passion. Apathy often means about the same thing as indifference, but it’s more often used in the context of someone’s lack of action when action is needed. The adjective apathetic is used to describe someone in such a state. The word apathy is typically used in a negative way to criticize such a state or attitude as being irresponsible or insensitive. When someone is accused of apathy, it usually means the person making the accusation thinks the apathetic person should care more—or at all. Example: The apathy of your generation is astounding—it’s like none of you care about any of the big problems in the world!
Synonym Usage
See indifference.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apathy
First recorded in 1595–1605; from French or directly from Latin apathīa, from Greek apátheia “insensibility to suffering,” equivalent to apathe- (stem of apathḗs ) “unfeeling” ( a- a- 6 + pathe-, variant stem of páthos pathos ) + -ia -ia
Explanation
Use the noun apathy when someone isn't interested in the important things that are happening. You might feel apathy for the political process after watching candidates bicker tediously with one another. Although apathy is a lazy-sounding word indicating a lack of interest, action, or emotion, it has traveled through many languages to arrive in English. From the Greek apatheia, "freedom from suffering" or "impassibility," apathy has existed in English since the 17th century. Not just one person, but a whole segment of the population can be accused of inaction or emotional detachment: the expressions voter apathy, student apathy, and consumer apathy show just how unenthusiastic groups of people can be.
Vocabulary lists containing apathy
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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Animal Farm
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "A"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Others came up with captions including "Don't Look Up," a reference to the 2021 film starring Leonardo Di Caprio parodying societal apathy to the climate crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Besides large class sizes and underfunding, I think public educators are largely battling apathy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The police station head Rajiv Kumar has since been suspended for "negligence, apathy, and insensitivity", Begusarai police said.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Reports cite a range of complicated factors for the restraint, from apathy to technology-induced incapacity.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
When this stage is reached, shivering ceases as the body just gives up and apathy takes over.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
But European civilization, as Shirer's people embody it, has become a complex of nostalgias, apathies, pleasant habits.
From Time Magazine Archive
And yet again they seem to use words rightly when they call those joys and wishes and cautions not apathies but good conditions of the mind.
From Plutarch's Morals by Arthur Richard Shilleto
The next news I had of him was in his essay, "Ordered South," concerning the emotions, apathies, and pleasures, on that then fairy coast, of a young man who thinks that his days are numbered.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 1 (of 25) by Andrew Lang
She learned more of Mrs. Grubb with every interview, and she knew that her enthusiasms were as discouraging as her apathies.
From Marm Lisa by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
I am, in plainer words, a bundle of prejudices—made up of likings and dislikings—the veriest thrall to sympathies, apathies, antipathies.
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
