acedia

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /əˈsidiə/ UK /əˈsiːdɪə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
spiritual or mental sloth; apathy and listlessness

The monk struggled against a creeping acedia during the long winter.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · spiritual or mental sloth;... sloth apathy listlessness torpor accidie lethargy ennui

Opposites

zeal ardor diligence fervor

Word family

Related forms accidie

Etymology

From Late Latin acēdia, from Ancient Greek akēdía ('indifference, listlessness'), from a- (privative 'without') + kêdos ('care, concern').

acēdia Late Latin akēdía Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# acedia

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əˈsidiə/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈsiːdɪə/

## Meanings
1. spiritual or mental sloth; apathy and listlessness

## Examples
- The monk struggled against a creeping acedia during the long winter.

## Synonyms
- sloth
- apathy
- listlessness
- torpor
- accidie
- lethargy
- ennui

## Antonyms
- zeal
- ardor
- diligence
- fervor

## Related Forms
- accidie

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: acēdia
- Root: akēdía

## Etymology
From Late Latin acēdia, from Ancient Greek akēdía ('indifference, listlessness'), from a- (privative 'without') + kêdos ('care, concern').

## AI Etymology
acedia comes from Late Latin acēdia, from Ancient Greek akēdía ('indifference, listlessness'), from a- (privative 'without') + kêdos ('care, concern'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "spiritual or mental sloth; apathy and listlessness", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as accidie, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Late Latin acēdia, Ancient Greek akēdía, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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