APATHY

apathy. Apathy, n. a want of passion or feeling, indolence

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Ap″a‐thy (�), n.; pl. Apathies (�). [[L. apathia, Gr. �; ἀ 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. A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which led him . . . to leave events to take their own course. Prescott. According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of the passions by the ascendency of reason. Fleming. ☞ In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns. Syn. — Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern; stoicism; supineness; sluggishness.