indolence n : inactivity resulting from a dislike of work [syn: laziness]

English

Etymology

First attested 1603, from French indolence, insensitivity to pain, from Latin indolentia, insensibility, from in- not + dolere to grieve. Sense of laziness, first attested 1710, is related to taking pains.

Noun

1. Habitual laziness or sloth.

   born with an incurable indolence of mind and body

   Indolence and vacillation were legibly impressed on his appearance and expression.

Synonyms

• indolency

Related terms

• indolent

Indolence evolved from the Latin in-dolens, "without griefs", implying "not worried about problems." Indolence can mean:

• A synonym for laziness.
• In the context of medicine, an "indolent" condition is one that is not rapidly spreading, and is contrasted to an "aggressive" condition. It is frequently used in the context of lymphoma.

a wise passiveness, abeyance, apathy, catalepsy, catatonia, cautiousness, circumspection, contemplation, contemplative life, creeping, deadliness, deathliness, deliberateness, deliberation, dilatoriness, do-nothing policy, do-nothingism, do-nothingness, dolce far niente, dormancy, drawl, entropy, ergophobia, faineancy, faineantise, foot-dragging, hoboism, idleness, immobility, inaction, inactivity, indifference, inertia, inertness, inexertion, just being, laggardness, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, laissez-faireism, languidness, languor, lassitude, latency, laze, laziness, leisureliness, lentitude, lentor, lethargy, listlessness, lotus-eating, meditation, mere existence, mere tropism, neutralism, neutrality, neutralness, noninvolvement, nonparticipation, nonresistance, nonviolence, nonviolent resistance, oscitancy, pacifism, paralysis, passive resistance, passive self-annihilation, passiveness, passivism, passivity, pokiness, policy, procrastination, quiescence, quietism, reluctance, remissness, shiftlessness, slackness, sloth, slothfulness, slouch, slowness, sluggardy, sluggishness, spring fever, stagnancy, stagnation, standpattism, stasis, suspense, tentativeness, torpidity, torpor, vagrancy, vegetation, vis inertiae, vita contemplativa, waiting game, watching and waiting