indolence
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of indolence
1595–1605; < Latin indolentia freedom from pain; see indolent, -ence
Explanation
If your boss catches you sleeping with your head on your desk, she's likely to comment on your indolence. Indolence is another word for laziness. The noun indolence means a habit of laziness, especially when avoiding work. In the 1600s, indolence was mostly used to mean "insensitivity to pain," from the Latin indolentia, "freedom from pain." About 100 years later, indolence came to have its current meaning, possibly because of the phrase "taking pains," which means "being careful." If you are so careful that you never leave the house, people might think of you as lazy.
Vocabulary lists containing indolence
The Giver
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Negatives with "in"
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Life of Pi
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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.
Indolence is no longer the fashion among aristocrats; many are out making money.
From Time Magazine Archive
Indolence may not be a crime, but it iz liable tew be at enny time.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
Thomson, James, his boyhood, 73; brings his poetry to London, 73, 74; his Winter, 74, 75; befriended by Pope, 76; his Liberty and Castle of Indolence, 77, 78; his burial-place, 101.
From English Lands Letters and Kings Queen Anne and the Georges by Mitchell, Donald G.
Thomson's Castle of Indolence, although not published till 1748, seems to have been written and circulated before Shenstone's Schoolmistress.
From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald
"Indolence and inability have too large a share in your composition ever to suffer you to be any thing more than the hero of little villainies and unfinished adventures."
From Junius Unmasked or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence by Moody, Joel
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.
