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Lethargy vs Inertia - What's the difference?

lethargy | inertia | Synonyms |

Inertia is a synonym of lethargy.



As nouns the difference between lethargy and inertia

is that lethargy is a condition characterized by extreme fatigue or drowsiness, or prolonged sleep patterns while inertia is the property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.

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.

    inertia

    Noun

  • (physics, uncountable, or, countable) The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.
  • (figuratively) In a person, unwillingness to take action.
  • * Carlyle
  • Men have immense irresolution and inertia .
  • * 2014 , Jacob Steinberg, " Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian , 9 March 2014:
  • City had been woeful, their anger at their own inertia summed up when Samir Nasri received a booking for dissent, and they did not have a shot on target until the 66th minute.
  • (medicine) Lack of activity; sluggishness; said especially of the uterus, when, in labour, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.
  • Synonyms

    * (unwillingness to take action) idleness, laziness, sloth, slothfulness

    Derived terms

    * inertial * inertia welding * moment of inertia