inanition

[in-uh-nish-uhn]

noun

1. exhaustion from lack of nourishment; starvation.

2. lack of vigor; lethargy.

inanition

/ ˌɪnəˈnɪʃən /

noun

1. exhaustion resulting from lack of food

2. mental, social, or spiritual weakness or lassitude

Word History and Origins

Origin of inanition¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin inānitiōn- (stem of inānitiō “emptiness”); inane, -ition

Word History and Origins

Origin of inanition¹

C14: from Late Latin inānītio emptiness, from Latin inānis empty; see _inane

Example Sentences

There were times in “High Life,” by contrast, when my attention began to wander through space—always a hazard, I guess, when the main menace is moral inanition and a heedless despair.

Read more on The New Yorker

America, which is entertaining itself to inanition, has never experienced a scarcity of entertainment.

Read more on Washington Post

Long before progress, understood as streaming, brought us binge-watching, she foresaw people entertaining themselves into inanition with portable technologies that enable “limitless self-absorption,” making people solipsistic and unmannerly.

Read more on Washington Post

Two pathologists initially found that 49-year-old Michael Stanley Galliher died in August from complications of inanition, defined as an exhausted condition resulting from lack of nourishment.

Read more on Seattle Times

The autopsy report, provided to The Associated Press after a public records request, found Galliher died from “complications of inanition,” defined as an exhausted condition resulting from lack of nourishment.

Read more on Washington Times

Related Words

• apathy 
• disinterest 
• drowsiness www.thesaurus.com
• inactivity www.thesaurus.com