Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition of being idle, in any sense of that word; inactivity; slothfulness; uselessness; unprofitableness; worthlessness; foolishness.
  • noun Synonyms See idle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The condition or quality of being idle (in the various senses of that word); uselessness; fruitlessness; triviality; inactivity; laziness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being idle; inactivity.
  • noun The state of being indolent; indolence
  • noun Groundlessness; worthlessness; triviality.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the quality of lacking substance or value
  • noun the trait of being idle out of a reluctance to work
  • noun having no employment

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

idle +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • They may produce what they call idleness now, and a great deal of vexation and suffering.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • There we all clambered out to stretch cramped muscles and make a fire to cook the hippo's tongue, Coutlass cursing us for letting what he called idleness come between us and revenge.

    The Ivory Trail Mundy, Talbot, 1879-1940 1920

  • There we all clambered out to stretch cramped muscles and make a fire to cook the hippo's tongue, Coutlass cursing us for letting what he called idleness come between us and revenge.

    The Ivory Trail Talbot Mundy 1909

  • There is a grossness in the conceptions of my countrymen; they will not be convinced that any good thing may consist with what they call idleness; they can anticipate nothing but evil of a young man who neither studies physic, law, nor gospel, nor opens a store, nor takes to farming, but manifests an incomprehensible disposition to be satisfied with what his father left him.

    Nathaniel Hawthorne Woodberry, George E 1902

  • There is a grossness in the conceptions of my countrymen; they will not be convinced that any good thing may consist with what they call idleness; they can anticipate nothing but evil of a young man who neither studies physic, law, nor gospel, nor opens a store, nor takes to farming, but manifests an incomprehensible disposition to be satisfied with what his father left him.

    Nathaniel Hawthorne George Edward Woodberry 1892

  • There is a grossness in the conceptions of my countrymen; they will not be convinced that any good thing may consist with what they call idleness; they can anticipate nothing but evil of a young man who neither studies physic, law, nor gospel, nor opens a store, nor takes to farming, but manifests an incomprehensible disposition to be satisfied with what his father left him.

    Passages from a Relinquised Work (From "Mosses from an Old Manse") Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834

  • In other words, no individual should be wasted in idleness if they wish to be employed into the safety net program.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • In other words, no individual should be wasted in idleness if they wish to be employed into the safety net program.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • In other words, no individual should be wasted in idleness if they wish to be employed into the safety net program.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

  • In other words, no individual should be wasted in idleness if they wish to be employed into the safety net program.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

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