idleness

English

Etymology

From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdalnassī, equivalent to idle +‎ -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪdəlnəs/
• Hyphenation: idle‧ness

• Audio (US):

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Noun

idleness (countable and uncountable, plural idlenesses)

1. The state of being idle; inactivity.
2. The state of being indolent; indolence.
   • 1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature D3, verso:

     For either they be puffed vp vvith pride, / Or fraught vvith enuie that their galls do ſvvell, / Or they their dayes to ydleneſſe diuide, / Or drovvnded lie in pleaſures vvaſtefull vvell, / In vvhich like Moldvvarps [i.e., moles] nouſling ſtill they lurke, / Vnmyndfull of chiefe parts of manlineſſe, / And do themſelues for vvant of other vvorke, / Vaine votaries of laeſie loue profeſſe, […]

3. Groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality; vanity; frivolity.

Derived terms

• eat the bread of idleness
• love-in-idleness

 

Related terms

• idledom
• idlehood
• idleship

Translations

state of being idle; inactivity

• Bulgarian: бездействие (bg) n (bezdejstvie)
• Catalan: inactivitat (ca)
• Czech: zahálka (cs) f
• Dutch: ledigheid (nl)
• Finnish: joutilaisuus (fi)
• French: oisiveté (fr) f, inactivité (fr) f
• Galician: inactividade (gl) f
• Georgian: უსაქმურობა (usakmuroba), უქნარობა (uknaroba), უმაქნისობა (umaknisoba)
• German: Untätigkeit (de) f, Stillstand (de) m, Müßiggang (de), Untätigkeit (de)
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹 f (latei)
• Irish: díomhaointeas m
• Italian: ozio (it) m
• Korean: 한가 (ko) (han'ga)
• Latin: ōtium n
• Middle English: ydelschipe, ydelnesse
• Polish: bezczynność (pl) f
• Portuguese: inatividade (pt) f, ócio (pt) m
• Russian: просто́й (ru) m (prostój), безде́лье (ru) n (bezdélʹje)
• Serbo-Croatian: dokolica (sh) f
• Spanish: inactividad (es) f, holganza (es) f
• Swedish: sysslolöshet (sv) c
• Tocharian B: ālasäññe
• Volapük: nosdun (vo)
• Welsh: segurdod (cy)

state of being indolent

• Azerbaijani: bekarçılıq, avaraçılıq
• Bulgarian: безделие (bg) n (bezdelie)
• Catalan: indolència (ca) f
• Finnish: velttous (fi), vetelyys (fi)
• French: indolence (fr) f
• Galician: indolencia (gl) f
• German: Trägheit (de) f, Arbeitsunwilligkeit f, (rare) Indolenz (de) f, Faulheit (de)
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹 f (latei)
• Irish: leisce f
• Italian: indolenza (it) f, pigrizia (it) f, oziosità
• Latin: dēsidia f
• Middle English: ydelschipe, ydelnesse
• Portuguese: indolência (pt) f
• Russian: праздность (ru) f (prazdnostʹ), леность (ru) f (lenostʹ)
• Spanish: indolencia (es) f
• Uyghur: بىكارچىلىق (bikarchiliq)
• Volapük: trög (vo)

groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality

• Finnish: turhuus (fi)
• French: inutilité (fr) f, futilité (fr) f, trivialité (fr) f
• German: Nutzlosigkeit (de)
• Italian: inutilità (it)
• Middle English: ydelschipe, ydelnesse
• Russian: бесплодность (ru) f (besplodnostʹ), бесполезность (ru) f (bespoleznostʹ)

Anagrams

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