lassitude
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from French lassitude, from Latin lassitūdō (“faintness, weariness”), from lassus (“faint, weary”), perhaps for *ladtus, and thus akin to English late.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlæsɪˌtjuːd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlæsɪˌtud/
Noun edit
lassitude (countable and uncountable, plural lassitudes)
- Lethargy or lack of energy; fatigue.
- Listlessness or languor.
Quotations edit
- 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833 - The Enchantress, page 29.
- She began to pace the room, that common resource of extreme lassitude, when sleep, to which the will consents not, hangs heavy on the eyelids.
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter VII, in For the Term of His Natural Life:
- 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[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 25”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
- "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 August 16, “Is Slacking the Only Way to Survive the Office?”, in The Scotsman, Edinburgh:
- 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.
- 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 199:
- "Really!" he said, collapsing into lassitude. "It's too frightfully hot for singing."
- 2004 August 11, Rob Hughes, “Soccer: The Olympic Flame Running Low on Fuel”, in International Herald Tribune, Paris:
- 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 edit
lethargy
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Further reading edit
- “lassitude”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “lassitude”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “lassitude”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
French edit
Etymology edit
From Latin lassitūdō (“faintness, weariness”), from lassus (“faint, weary”).
Noun edit
lassitude f (plural lassitudes)
Further reading edit
- “lassitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.