US /ˈɪndələnt/ UK /ˈɪn.də.lənt/
adj Freq #76472

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    Habitually lazy and avoiding any kind of work or effort.

    The indolent clerk left most of the paperwork for someone else to finish.

  2. 2
    adj

    Of an illness or growth: slow to develop and causing little or no pain.

    The doctor described it as an indolent tumor that grows very slowly.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · habitually lazy and... lazyslothfulwork-shy
More idle
Word family
Derived forms indolently
Related forms indolenceindolency

Etymology

From French indolent or directly from Late Latin indolēns, from in- (“not”) + dolēns (“hurting”), from doleo (“to hurt”). The later sense of “living easily, slothful” perhaps developed in French.

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