Lethargic Meaning
/ləˈθɑɹd͡ʒɪk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjSluggish, slow.
adjIndifferent, apathetic.
Sentence Examples
I feel lethargic when I diet, what should I do?
The forum looks lethargic; maybe it's your diet.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The long illness left him feeling extremely ____ and completely unable to get out of bed.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After a very long and exhausting day at work, I felt quite ____ and just wanted to sleep for ten hours today.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ληθαργικός (lēthargikós), from λήθαργος (lḗthargos, “forgetful, lethargic”), from λήθη (lḗthē, “a forgetting, forgetfulness”) (from which Lethe (“river in Hades”)) + ἀργός (argós, “not working”). By surface analysis, lethargy + -ic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[That cat] hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. Lethargic is the word that springs to the lips. If you cast an eye on him, you will see that he's asleep now."
— 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:
"She was, in fact, constitutionally impervious to statistics and preferred to study the be-headphoned group of fifteen or so lethargic wanderers who were taking even less notice of the remorseless squawkings than she was."
— 1968, Christopher Hodder-Williams, “Hands”, in Fistful of Digits, London: Coronet Books, published 1972, →ISBN, page 125:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The long illness left him feeling extremely ____ and completely unable to get out of bed.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After a very long and exhausting day at work, I felt quite ____ and just wanted to sleep for ten hours today.