Lassitude
/ˈlæsɪˌtjuːd/
nounC1
Definition
Lassitude is when someone feels very tired, weak, and without energy. It is more than just being a little tired; it is a deep, heavy kind of tiredness that can make it hard to do things. This feeling often happens after working hard, being sick, or feeling stressed for a long time.
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See It in Action
A state of physical or mental weariness and low energy
- •After running the marathon, she felt a deep lassitude that lasted for days.
- •The long illness left him with lassitude and little desire to move.
- •Stress and poor sleep can cause lassitude, making daily tasks difficult.
Make It Stick
- ✓Think of "lassitude" like "tired" (A1 word), but much stronger and longer-lasting—like you want to rest and cannot do much
- ✓Picture a person after a long day in the sun, feeling very weak and slow, like their body is heavy and slow
- ✓It's the feeling you get when you want to sit down and do nothing because you have no energy left
- ✓Sounds like "LA-sih-tude" → imagine someone saying "last attitude" but they have no energy left for any attitude
- ✓Imagine a slow, quiet afternoon where everything feels calm but also very still because of tiredness
- ✓NOT like "sleepy" (just needing sleep), lassitude is more about weak energy and lack of strength, not just wanting to sleep
- ✓NOT like "exhausted" (extreme tiredness from hard work), lassitude can be more about a general weak feeling, not only after physical effort
- ✓NOT like "lazy" (choosing not to do work), lassitude is a feeling you cannot control, not a choice
Try Other Words
- •Fatigue: extreme tiredness from physical or mental work (Use when tiredness is caused by hard work or effort)
- •Weakness: lack of strength or power (Use when the feeling includes physical lack of strength)
- •Weariness: feeling tired after long effort or time (Use when tiredness comes from long duration or repeated effort)
Unboxing
- •Word parts: (no clear prefix or suffix) — the root comes from Latin "lassitudo"
- •Etymology: From Latin "lassitudo," meaning weariness or fatigue
- •Historical development: Used in English since the late 1500s to describe physical or mental tiredness
- •Modern usage: Used mainly in formal or literary language to describe deep tiredness or lack of energy
Reflect & Connect
•How do you know when tiredness becomes lassitude and not just normal tiredness?
•Can lassitude affect your mind as well as your body? How might that change your feelings or actions?
Fill in the blanks
1.After many hours of work, she felt lassitude and needed to ___ immediately to regain energy.
2.Lassitude often happens when someone is ___ for a long time without rest or sleep.
3.Unlike normal tiredness, lassitude can make it hard to ___ even simple tasks.
4.People sometimes use "lassitude" to describe a feeling of ___ or lack of motivation.
5.After illness, lassitude may last ___ the physical symptoms have gone away.
6.Lassitude is not the same as laziness because it is a ___ feeling, not a choice.
7.When experiencing lassitude, a person might move ___ and speak more slowly than usual.