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lethargic. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
lethargic, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
lethargic in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
Adjective
lethargic (comparative more lethargic, superlative most lethargic)
- sluggish, slow
- Synonyms: torpid, lazy, unmoving; see also Thesaurus:inactive, Thesaurus:slow
1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:[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.
1968, Christopher Hodder-Williams, “Hands”, in Fistful of Digits, London: Coronet Books, published 1972, →ISBN, page 125: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.
- indifferent, apathetic
- Synonyms: torpid, unmoving; see also Thesaurus:apathetic
Translations