Shiftlessness

3 definitions found

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

  Shiftless \Shift"less\, a.
     Destitute of expedients, or not using successful expedients;
     characterized by failure, especially by failure to provide
     for one's own support, through negligence or incapacity;
     hence, lazy; improvident; thriftless; as, a shiftless fellow;
     shiftless management. -- {Shift"less*ly}, adv. --


     {Shift"less*ness}, n.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  shiftlessness
       n : a failure to be active as a consequence of lack of
           initiative or ambition

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  27 Moby Thesaurus words for "shiftlessness":
     dilatoriness, do-nothingness, ergophobia, faineancy, faineantise,
     fecklessness, hastiness, heedlessness, hoboism, improvidence,
     indolence, inertia, inexertion, laggardness, lax stewardship,
     laziness, lotus-eating, negligence, poor husbandry, remissness,
     sloth, slothfulness, slowness, spring fever, thoughtlessness,
     thriftlessness, vagrancy