Word of the Day

Friday, September 10, 1999

indolent

\IN-duh-luhnt\ , adjective;

Avoiding labor and exertion; habitually idle; lazy; inactive.

Conducive to or encouraging laziness or inactivity.

Causing little or no pain.

Slow to heal, develop, or grow.

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Quotes:

We worked very hard--at least Iris did; I was more naturally indolent.

-- John Bayley, Elegy for Iris

Charles was too indolent -- he never applied himself to the business of kingship as Louis XIV did.

-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination

There, people did as much as they chose and few ripples ever disturbed the prevailing atmosphere of indolent tranquillity.

-- Rufina Philby, "et al.", The Private Life of Kim Philby

Now, though, researchers understand that some cancers are indolent -- so indolent, in fact, that they will never grow large enough in the patient's lifetime to cause medical problems.

-- Gina Kolata, "Test Proves Fruitless, Fueling New Debate on Cancer Screening", New York Times, April 9, 2002

Origin:

Indolent is from Latin in-, "not" + dolens, "hurting, suffering pain," from dolere, "to suffer pain."