# indolence

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɪndəl(ə)ns/ · frequency rank #86,380

## Definitions
1. Habitual laziness or sloth.
2. Lack of pain in a tumour.
3. A state in which one feels no pain or is indifferent to it; a lack of any feeling.
4. A state of repose in which neither pain nor pleasure is experienced.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French indolence, or from its etymon Latin indolentia (“freedom from pain; insensibility”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + dolēns (“hurting, suffering; grieving, lamenting”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Dolēns is the present participle of doleō (“to hurt, suffer; to be sorry, deplore, grieve for, lament”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to divide, split”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/indolence