idleness
id·le·ness
noun
1.
having no employment
2.
the trait of being idle out of a reluctance to work
Origin
From Middle English ydelnesse, from Old English īdelnes, from Proto-West Germanic *īdlanassī, equivalent to idle + -ness. Cognate with Old Frisian īdelnisse (“idelness”), obsolete Dutch ijdelnis, Old Saxon īdalnussi (“idleness, vanity”), Old High German ītalnissa (“idleness, vanity, emptiness”).
Phrases
- eat the bread of idleness
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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.