lassitude
Americannoun
-
weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.
It was yet another day of extreme heat and lassitude.
-
a condition of lazy indifference.
Democracy is hard work, and demands that citizens not drift into lassitude.
noun
Etymology
Origin of lassitude
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin lassitūdō “weariness,” equivalent to lass(us) “weary” + -i- connecting vowel + -tūdō noun suffix; see -i-, -tude
Explanation
If you are feeling lassitude, you're weary and just can't be bothered. Couch potatoes make lassitude into an art form. Lassitude might sound like latitude, but the two words don't mean the same thing. Latitude describes the distance of a particular location from the equator. Lassitude is the weariness you'd experience after attempting to run a marathon around the equator. Lassitude can also describe a lack of interest, like deciding you'd rather lie on your couch than run that marathon along the equator.
Vocabulary lists containing lassitude
Frankenstein
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The Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
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1984
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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.
And it carried an implicit warning: If America ever ceases to be as Hilda—godly, uncompromising, moral, dutiful and good—the moss-covered lassitude of Hawthorne’s Rome awaits us too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
His tone, however, belied the lassitude of a man who increasingly struggles to hide his age behind all that makeup.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
There were moments during my screening at which I thought I was attending an exorcism; the movie makes you feel thrown by the power of cinema to shake us out of our lassitude.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2024
It’s also inevitable that some day soon the U.S. will play an opponent able to seize on its mid-game lassitude and ram a couple of quick goals home.
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2021
A cold lassitude came over him and he passed into a dreaming, inert stupor, full of cramp and pain.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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.
