lethargic
adjective
Did you know?
In Greek mythology, Lethe was the name of a river in the underworld that was also called "the River of Unmindfulness" or "the River of Forgetfulness." Legend held that when someone died, he or she was given a drink of water from the river Lethe to forget all about his or her past life. Eventually this act of forgetting came to be associated with feelings of sluggishness, inactivity, or indifference. The name of the river and the word lethargic, as well as the related noun lethargy, all derive from lēthē, Greek for "forgetfulness."
Synonyms
Examples of lethargic in a Sentence
Lenny Rudow, Boating, December 1997
… became a drifter and for a time an alcoholic and finally lapsed into lethargic self-abasement.
—Stanley Karnow, New York Times Book Review, 14 Oct. 1984
The audience was cold and lethargic. It is true there were about fifty-seven applauses, but they were not roars of enthusiasm by any means.
—Lady Bird Johnson 12 Jan. 1966,
in A White House Diary, 1970
The patient is weak and lethargic.
a big meal always makes me feel lethargic and sleepy
Matias Grez, CNN, 25 June 2024
Getting better on the ice is correct because the Rangers were lethargic and sloppy with the puck early in the first period against the Panthers.
—Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 24 May 2024
But Clingan was more lethargic than a 7-foot-2 center who’s projected to go in the first round of the NBA draft should be on a big stage with scouts everywhere.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 14 Mar. 2024
Indeed, some commentators made the comparison directly, casting Washington as the Athens of that drama to Moscow’s lethargic, conservative Sparta.
—Michael J. Mazarr, Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2022
See all Example Sentences for lethargic 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lethargic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Lethargic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lethargic. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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