indolency

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”) (see further at indolence) + English -ency (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting conditions, qualities, or states).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪndələnsi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪndəˌlənsi/
• Hyphenation: in‧dol‧en‧cy

Noun

indolency (plural indolencies)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of indolence
   1. Habitual laziness or sloth.
   2. A state in which one feels no pain or is indifferent to it; a lack of any feeling.
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

        [T]he sect of Philosophie, that hath most preferred sensualitie, hath also placed the same but to indolencie or unfeeling of paine.

      • 1689, [John Locke], translated by [William Popple], A Letter Concerning Toleration: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:

        Civil interests I call life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the possession of outward things, such as money, lands, houses, furniture, and the like.

   3. A state of repose in which neither pain nor pleasure is experienced.

References

1. Compare “† indolency, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021.

Anagrams

• dyclonine