Search Result for "apathies": 

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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. [1913 Webster] A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which led him . . . to leave events to take their own course. --Prescott. [1913 Webster] According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of the passions by the ascendency of reason. --Fleming. [1913 Webster] Note: In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns. [1913 Webster] Syn: Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern; stoicism; supineness; sluggishness. [1913 Webster]