laziness
Americannoun
-
having or showing an unwillingness to work.
Many people start the course with a bang, but trail off after a while because of laziness, insufficient curiosity, or lack of motivation.
-
the fact or quality of encouraging idleness.
We relaxed in the laziness of the warm afternoon, watching as the sun began to set.
-
the fact or quality of being slow-moving or sluggish.
It was only three miles downstream, but the laziness of the river stretched the raft ride to two hours.
Etymology
Origin of laziness
Explanation
The characteristic of being idle or relaxed can be called laziness. Your laziness might keep you from taking your puppy for the long walk she needs, instead just letting her out in the yard. There's the kind of laziness when you lie in a hammock for an hour watching the clouds, and then there's the kind when you don't get any work done all week. You might experience laziness on vacation, sleeping later than usual and lounging on the beach with a book. Sometimes laziness is the result, though, of an unwillingness to work or help someone out: "His laziness meant that I had to set the tent up all by myself!"
Vocabulary lists containing laziness
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ness
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The Suffix -ness, Part 2
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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.
Rob Carter had an answer, and it was simple: Laziness leads to shameful and embarrassing results; hard work leads to success and satisfaction.
From Washington Post • Mar. 30, 2020
Perhaps the initial giddiness resulted not from The Laziness itself but from my dawning belief that I had taken a tiny step toward enlightenment.
From Scientific American • Aug. 5, 2018
Laziness and fear lead us to acquiesce: it’s much easier to let others think for us.
From The Guardian • Oct. 5, 2014
Laziness, because thinking about the paradox gives the feeling that you’re perpetually on the verge of solving it without ever doing so—the same feeling that Achilles would have about catching the tortoise.
From Slate • Mar. 5, 2014
Laziness wasn’t as reliable as greed, but it still made a fine lever.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
