idleness
pronunciation
How to pronounce idleness in British English:
UK ['aɪdlnəs]
How to pronounce idleness in American English:
US [ˈaɪdlnɪs]
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- Noun:
- having no employment
- the trait of being idle out of a reluctance to work
Word Origin
- idleness (n.)
- Old English idelnes "frivolity, vanity, emptiness; vain existence;" see idle + -ness. Old English expressed the idea we attach to in vain by in idelnisse. Spenser, Scott, and others use idlesse to mean the same thing in a positive, pleasant sense.
Example
- 1. Work is surely better than idleness .
- 2. Rebuking the grasshopper for his idleness , the ant turns his back and crawls away .
- 3. The idleness is killing me but I can 't quit as I need the salary .
- 4. It must have , but reining in such a profligate program that subsidizes idleness is an idea that makes sense .
- 5. He dislikes dancing , idleness and insubordination ; he observes scenery with the tactical coldness of a sniper .