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Slumber vs Lethargy - What's the difference?

slumber | lethargy |

As nouns the difference between slumber and lethargy

is that slumber is a very light state of sleep, almost awake while lethargy is a condition characterized by extreme fatigue or drowsiness, or prolonged sleep patterns.

As a verb slumber

is to be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake.

slumber

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
  • He at last fell into a slumber , and thence into a fast sleep, which detained him in that place until it was almost night. — Bunyan.
    Fast asleep? It is no matter; / Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber . — Shakespeare.
    Rest to my soul, and slumber to my eyes. — Dryden.

    Derived terms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake.
  • * Bible, Psalms cxxi. 4
  • He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
  • To be inactive or negligent.
  • (obsolete) To lay to sleep.
  • (Wotton)
  • (obsolete) To stun; to stupefy.
  • (Spenser)

    See also

    * catnap * doze * nap * shuteye * slumber party

    Anagrams

    *

    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.