apathy : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: apathy	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for apathy
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
apathy n an absence of emotion or enthusiasm the trait of lacking enthusiasm for or interest in things generally Synonym(s): apathy, indifference, numbness, spiritlessness
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Apathy \Ap"athy\, 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. [bd]The apathy* of despair.[b8] --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.