Lethargy
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A state of extreme torpor, sopor or apathy, especially with lack of emotion, energy or enthusiasm; (loosely) sluggishness, laziness. countable, uncountable
"Europe lay then under a deep lethargy."
- 2 inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy wordnet
- 3 A condition characterized by extreme fatigue or drowsiness, deep unresponsiveness, or prolonged sleep patterns. countable, uncountable
"This Apoplexie is (as I take it) a kind of Lethargie, a sleeping of the blood, a horson Tingling."
- 4 weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy wordnet
- 5 a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness) wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"As I have mentioned somewhere in these incoherent memoirs, the outbursts of passionate energy when he performed the remarkable feats with which his name is associated were followed by reactions of lethargy during which he would lie about with his violin and his books, hardly moving save from the sofa to the table."
Etymology
From Middle English litargie, from Medieval Latin litargia, from Late Latin lēthārgia, borrowed from Ancient Greek ληθᾱργῐ́ᾱ (lēthārgĭ́ā, “drowsiness”), from λήθᾱργος (lḗthārgos, “forgetful, lethargic”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, adjectival suffix).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.