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Lethargy vs Drowsy - What's the difference?

lethargy | drowsy |

As a noun lethargy

is a condition characterized by extreme fatigue or drowsiness, or prolonged sleep patterns.

As an adjective drowsy is

inclined to drowse; heavy with sleepiness; lethargic; dozy.

lethargy

English

Noun

  • (pathology) A condition characterized by extreme fatigue or drowsiness, or prolonged sleep patterns.
  • * c. 1599 , (William Shakespeare), King Henry IV, Part 2 :
    • This Apoplexie is (as I take it) a kind of Lethargie , a sleeping of the blood, a horson Tingling.
  • * 2003 , Amanda Ripley, "At Last, the Pill for Men", Time , 20 Oct 2003:
    • So in order to avoid unpleasant side effects like lethargy and sexual dysfunction, most recent trials also gave men testosterone supplements.
  • A state of extreme torpor or apathy, especially with lack of emotion or interest; loosely, sluggishness, laziness.
  • * Atterbury
    • Europe lay then under a deep lethargy .
  • * 1995 , Bruce W Nelan, "Crime and Punishment", Time , 20 Mar 1995:
    • Yakovlev, one of the architects of the reforms put in place by Mikhail Gorbachev, says he too is "amazed" at the government's lethargy .
  • * 2008 , Nick Fletcher, The Guardian , 9 May 2008:
    • The increase in mining stocks helped the FTSE 100 shake off some earlier lethargy and close 9.8 points higher at 6270.8, despite the disappointment of unchanged UK interest rates.

    Related terms

    * encephalitis lethargica (EL) * lethargic * Lethe

    drowsy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Inclined to drowse; heavy with sleepiness; lethargic; dozy.
    • I was feeling drowsy and so decided to make a cup of coffee to try to wake myself up.
  • Disposing to sleep; lulling; soporific.
    • It was a warm, drowsy summer afternoon.
  • Dull; stupid.

    • Derived terms

    * drowsiness