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more about apathy
apathy |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which led him . . . to leave events to take their own course. --Prescott. According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of the passions by the ascendency of reason. --Fleming. Note: In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns. Syn: Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern; stoicism; supineness; sluggishness. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: apathy n 1: an absence of emotion or enthusiasm 2: the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally [syn: {indifference}, {spiritlessness}]
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