Apathies

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Apathy \Ap"a*thy\, n.; pl. {Apathies}. [L. apathia, Gr. ?; 'a
     priv. + ?, fr. ?, ?, to suffer: cf. F. apathie. See
     {Pathos}.]
     Want of feeling; privation of passion, emotion, or
     excitement; dispassion; -- applied either to the body or the
     mind. As applied to the mind, it is a calmness, indolence, or


     state of indifference, incapable of being ruffled or roused
     to active interest or exertion by pleasure, pain, or passion.
     "The apathy of despair." --Macaulay.
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           A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which
           led him . . . to leave events to take their own course.
                                                    --Prescott.
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           According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of
           the passions by the ascendency of reason. --Fleming.
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     Note: In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted
           the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns.
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     Syn: Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern;
          stoicism; supineness; sluggishness.
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