Indolence Meaning
/ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounHabitual laziness or sloth.
nounLack of pain in a tumour.
Sentence Examples
I like the word "indolence". It makes my laziness seem classy.
Your religion promotes indolence.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ caused him to fail all his classes because he never studied.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The warm summer afternoon seemed to encourage a pleasant state of ____ among the guests.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French indolence, or from its etymon Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + dolēns (“hurting, suffering; grieving, lamenting”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Dolēns is the present participle of doleō (“to hurt, suffer; to be sorry, deplore, grieve for, lament”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to divide, split”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"After having applied my mind with more than ordinary attention to my studies, it is my usual custom to relax and unbend it in the conversation of such as are rather easy than shining companions. […] This is the particular use I make of a set of heavy honest men, with whom I have passed many hours with much indolence, though not with great pleasure. Their conversation is a kind of preparative for sleep: […]"
— 1710 February 21 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Friday, February 11, 1709–10”, in The Tatler, number 132; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 287:
"The sacred indolence of the monks was devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of the republic."
— 1781, Edward Gibbon, “General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 633:
"He [Samuel Johnson] ſeemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procraſtination vvere inherent in his conſtitution, vvhenever he made an exertion he did more than any one elſe."
— 1791, James Boswell, “[1712]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 14:
"It is indolence Mr. Bertram, indeed. Indolence and love of ease—a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men Clergymen."
— 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 229:
"To the man himself [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Nature had given, in high measure, the seeds of a noble endowment; […] but imbedded in such weak laxity of character, in such indolences and esuriences as had made strange work with it."
— 1851, Thomas Carlyle, “Coleridge”, in The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, part I, page 78:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ caused him to fail all his classes because he never studied.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The warm summer afternoon seemed to encourage a pleasant state of ____ among the guests.