Word of the Day

: August 19, 2024

lethargic

adjective luh-THAHR-jik

What It Means

Lethargic describes people who feel a lack of energy or a lack of interest in doing things. It is sometimes used figuratively, as in "a sluggish and lethargic economy."

// The jet lag from their weeklong international honeymoon left them feeling lethargic for a few days.

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lethargic in Context

"After igniting a somewhat lethargic, heat-exhausted audience in the fifth, [baseball player, Matt] Olson earned further cheers in the seventh as the Braves' onslaught continued." — Ginny Duffy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 16 June 2024

Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, Lethe was the name of a river in the underworld that was also called "the River of Unmindfulness" or "the River of Forgetfulness." Legend held that when someone died, they were given a drink of water from the river Lethe to forget all about their past life. Eventually this act of forgetting came to be associated with feelings of sluggishness, inactivity, or indifference. The name of the river and the word lethargic, as well as the related noun lethargy, all come from lēthē, Greek for "forgetfulness."