idleness

[ahy-dl-nis]

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.

Origin of idleness

before 1000; idle + -ness

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for idleness

torpidity, lethargy, slouch, truancy, dormancy, slothfulness, loafing, torpor, sloth, leisure, inertia, trifling, inactivity, stupor, shiftlessness, slowness, indolence, dawdling, unemployment, hibernation

Examples from the Web for idleness

Contemporary Examples of 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

Historical Examples of idleness

But she did not allow herself to fall into the idleness of barren speculation.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human happiness.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
There were long, long days of intrenching, skirmishing and idleness.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
Put aside frivolity and idleness, and apply yourself in earnest.
The Channings
Mrs. Henry Wood
All other goodness is but too often an idleness or powerlessness of will.
Reflections
Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld

Word Origin and History for 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.