inanition
Americannoun
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exhaustion resulting from lack of food
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mental, social, or spiritual weakness or lassitude
Etymology
Origin of inanition
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Late Latin inānitiōn- (stem of inānitiō “emptiness”); see inane, -ition
Explanation
Inanition is what you feel when you're absolutely wiped out, utterly exhausted. You might be so weak that your inanition keeps you on the couch instead of meeting your friends for dinner. Inanition is the total absence of energy and liveliness. Many people experience inanition after a difficult work week or a physically difficult task, and inanition is also common when you're sick or depressed. Another cause of inanition is not having enough to eat. The Latin root, inanitionem, actually means "emptiness," and comes from inanis, "empty, void, worthless, or useless."
Vocabulary lists containing inanition
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.
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.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 5, 2019
America, which is entertaining itself to inanition, has never experienced a scarcity of entertainment.
From Washington Post • Jun. 2, 2017
In chronic inanition loss of the original weight can be higher without death than in complete starvation, can be reduced to 40% or 50% of original weight and has been known to have been more.
From Time Magazine Archive
He became a sort of Gallic Coolidge decorated with Continental charm, and he presided over an era of prosperous inanition that collapsed in the debacle of the Franco-Prussian war.
From Time Magazine Archive
I perceived that I was sickening from excitement and inanition; neither meat nor drink had passed my lips that day, for I had taken no breakfast.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
