Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LETHARGY & LETHARGIC
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LETHARGY & LETHARGIC:
The noun is "LETH ur jee."
The adjective, "luh THAR jick."
To hear them, click here.
connect this word to others:
If you're feeling lethargic, you're feeling blah; dull; slow; sluggish; drowsy; la___id (lazy in a lifeless way); phl_____ic (calm, slow, sluggish, unemotional); or t___id (stiff, numb, dull, unmoving).
Could you recall those last three synonyms?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Our words "lethargy" and "lethargic" trace back to a Greek one meaning "forgetful," lēthargos.
In English, hundreds of years ago, we first used "lethargy" to mean "a sickness that makes people way too sleepy, and/or makes them sleep way too long."
And very soon afterward, we started applying that word figuratively. Lethargy is tiredness or exhaustion: a state of not doing very much, not moving very much, and maybe not even thinking or caring very much, as if you're suffering from a sickness that causes sleepiness.
The adjective is "lethargic." Lethargic things and people are those having or showing very little thought, movement, or activity, as if they're suffering from a sickness that causes sleepiness.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
"Lethargy" is the noun. It's usually the uncountable kind: "She couldn't shake her lethargy;" "My brain was dulled by lethargy."
Sometimes it's the countable kind: "A lethargy overtook him;" "The adults all seemed sunk in a lethargy" (Philip Pullman).
"Lethargic" is the adjective: "a lethargic mood," "this lethargic old cat."
Other forms:
The verb is rare: "lethargize." It's the transitive kind: "The endless lectures lethargized us."
how to use it:
Pick the formal, common words "lethargy" and "lethargic" to strike a serious tone. When you do, you're implying that something is seriously wrong. To just be fatigued or worn out from too much work is one thing, and easily explained--but to be lethargic is something else entirely, and maybe it's not so easily explained.
Since lethargy is similar to sleep, we talk about going down into it and coming up from it. That is, we talk about people falling, sinking, slipping, sliding, stumbling, or collapsing into lethargy, and about people rising from their lethargy, or shaking it off. Other things (and people) can also stir or rouse people from their lethargy.
And, since lethargy is similar to an illness, we can talk about easing, worsening, or curing someone's lethargy.
To use the adjective, talk about lethargic people, groups, animals, places, periods of time, etc. Anything that should be moving or changing at a certain pace but isn't might be called lethargic, so you might talk about lethargic songs, books, movies, careers, industries, economies, etc.
examples:
"Sudeep and the other [kidnapped] men... had little choice but to try to conserve their energy and wait for something to happen. Their lives fell into a kind of lethargic routine. Once a day, normally in mid-morning, they would get a bowl of instant noodles to share between the five of them."
— Kevin Ponniah, BBC, 10 May 2020
"Heaviness infuses my whole body, as if there's liquid lead in my veins. I've lost the will to do the simplest tasks, to do anything but lie here... it's the thought of Prim's anxious face as she watches me on the screens back home that breaks me from my lethargy."
— Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, 2008
has this page helped you understand "lethargy" & "lethargic"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "lethargy" without saying "sluggishness" or "inactivity."
try it out:
When you're exhausted and lethargic, where do you feel it the most intensely? Your eyes? Head? Shoulders? Arms and legs? Feet?
Wherever your lethargy seems to settle, let's get figurative and talk about removing the lethargy from that body part.
Fill in the blanks: "I (verbed) the lethargy from my (body part)."
Example 1: "I stretched and wiggled the lethargy out of my legs."
Example 2: "Captain Black yawned deliciously, rubbed the last lethargy from his eyes and laughed gloatingly each time he told someone else to eat his liver."
— Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 1955
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is "Serious Words, Silliest Names."
Match each word to the silly name it evokes. For example, match "pecuniary" to Owen Cash, "hoodwink" to Howie Cheatham, and "debacle" to Oliver Sutton.
To see the answers, scroll all the way down. Enjoy!
Try these today:
DISPENSABLE: _____
GENUFLECT: _____
INDOLENT: _____
LARCENOUS: _____
WANDERLUST: _____
Mel Lowe
Neal Down
Robin Banks
Theresa Crowd
Will Travel
review this word:
A. IDEALISTIC and QUIXOTIC.
B. HIDDEN and CLANDESTINE.
C. ENERGIZED and INDEFATIGABLE.
2.
Considering the etymology of the words "lethargy" and "lethargic," it makes sense that in Greek myth, Lethe is the spirit or goddess of _____.
A. pain and tears
B. poetry and rhetoric
C. forgetfulness and oblivion
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Our words "lethargy" and "lethargic" trace back to a Greek one meaning "forgetful," lēthargos.
Part of speech:
Pick the formal, common words "lethargy" and "lethargic" to strike a serious tone. When you do, you're implying that something is seriously wrong. To just be fatigued or worn out from too much work is one thing, and easily explained--but to be lethargic is something else entirely, and maybe it's not so easily explained.
"Sudeep and the other [kidnapped] men... had little choice but to try to conserve their energy and wait for something to happen. Their lives fell into a kind of lethargic routine. Once a day, normally in mid-morning, they would get a bowl of instant noodles to share between the five of them."
Explain the meaning of "lethargy" without saying "sluggishness" or "inactivity."
When you're exhausted and lethargic, where do you feel it the most intensely? Your eyes? Head? Shoulders? Arms and legs? Feet?
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |