idleness

[ ahy-dl-nis ]

/ ˈaɪ dl nɪs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR idleness ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the quality, state, or condition of being lazy, inactive, or idle: His lack of interest in the larger world and his consummate idleness were the causes of their dreadful divorce.

Nearby words

Origin of idleness

before 1000; idle + -ness

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for idleness

Indeed, idleness, for Russell, is a state one reaches by escaping the encompassing world.
The Professor's Reading List|Stephen L. Carter|March 3, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The immigrants were not suffered to sit in idleness all that afternoon.
South from Hudson Bay|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
With an idleness that visited her only at early day-break, she wondered what it was.
A Christmas Accident and Other Stories|Annie Eliot Trumbull
He tells the envious that the fame of Poets is immortal, and that theirs is not a life devoted to idleness.
The Amores, or Amours|Ovid

The poverty here indeed is great, but idleness and laziness are far greater.
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther|Martin Luther
With nothing that could be done, he felt no pangs in idleness.
The Lone Ranger Rides|Fran Striker

Word Origin and History for idleness

idleness

Old English idelnes "frivolity, vanity, emptiness; vain existence;" see idle + -ness. Old English expressed the idea we attach to in vain by in idelnisse. Spenser, Scott, and others use idlesse to mean the same thing in a positive, pleasant sense.

idleness

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of idleness

Examples from the Web for idleness

Word Origin and History for idleness

idleness