different between lassitude vs indolence

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French lassitude, from Latin lassit?d? (“faintness, weariness”), from lassus (“faint, weary”), perhaps for *ladtus, and thus akin to English late.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?læs??tju?d/

Noun

lassitude (countable and uncountable, plural lassitudes)

1. Lethargy or lack of energy; fatigue.
2. Listlessness or languor.

Quotations

• 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Chapter VII

  Rufus Dawes, though his eyelids would scarcely keep open, and a terrible lassitude almost paralysed his limbs, eagerly drank in the whispered sentence.

• 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 25

  "Then it's No, darling?" he said at last.

  She gave a gesture of lassitude. She was exhausted.

  "The studio is yours. Everything belongs to you. If you want to bring him here, how can I prevent you?"

• 2004, "Is Slacking the Only Way to Survive the Office?," The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 16 Aug,

  In order to appear busy, one should pace around the office clutching files.... The best part of this ancient ritual is that it tends to make one's colleagues look away—just in case you and your papers are going to interrupt their own lassitude.

• 2004, Rob Hughes, "Soccer: The Olympic Flame Running Low on Fuel," International Herald Tribune (Paris), 11 Aug.,

  At Euro 2004 and the 2002 World Cup, Blatter commented this week, many stars were physically and mentally exhausted, and left an aftertaste of nonchalance and lassitude.

Translations

Further reading

• lassitude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• lassitude in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• lassitude at OneLook Dictionary Search

French

Etymology

From Latin lassit?d? (“faintness, weariness”), from lassus (“faint, weary”).

Noun

lassitude f (plural lassitudes)

1. lassitude

Further reading

• “lassitude” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• dualistes

English

Etymology

From Middle French indolence, from Latin indolentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nd?l?ns/

Noun

indolence (usually uncountable, plural indolences)

1. Habitual laziness or sloth.
   • 1912, Stewart Edward White, chapter 19, in The Sign at Six:

     [H]er whole figure expressed a tense vibrant life in singular contrast to the apparent indolence of the men at whom she was talking.

   • 2001 September 10, Garrison Keillor, “In praise of laziness”, in Time^[1]:

     [N]ow, after five weeks of doing nothing, I am an authority on the subject of indolence and glad to share my views with you.

Synonyms

• indolency

Related terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin indolentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.d?.l??s/

Noun

indolence f (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) insensibility, lack of pain
2. laziness, indolence

Further reading

• “indolence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).