Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Lethargic |
LethargicAdjective1. Deficient in alertness or activity; "bullfrogs became lethargic with the first cold nights". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "lethargic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1690. (references) |
Synonym: LethargicSynonym: unergetic (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: energetic (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inactivity | Sleepy, sleepful; dozy, drowsy, somnolent, torpescent, lethargic, lethargical; somnifacient; statuvolent, statuvolic; heavy, heavy with sleep; napping; somnific, somniferous; soporous, soporific, soporiferous; hypnotic; balmy, dreamy; unawakened, unawakened. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Lethargic |
| English words defined with "lethargic": languidly, lethargic encephalitis, lethargically, Lethargize ♦ retarded depression ♦ stupefaction ♦ Typhotoxin ♦ unenergetically, unergetic. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Tongue Twisters | Thursdays are thirsty days for lethargic Ruth and Thelma. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Animals with "dumb" rabies appear depressed, lethargic, and uncoordinated. Gradually they become completely paralyzed. When their throat and jaw muscles are paralyzed, the animals will drool and have difficulty swallowing.Credit: CDC. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | At about the time the fever begins to subside, the patient may become restless or lethargic, show signs of circulatory failure, and experience hemorrhagic manifestations. (references) | |
Infants with botulism appear lethargic, feed poorly, are constipated, and have a weak cry and poor muscle tone. These are all symptoms of the muscle paralysis caused by the bacterial toxin. (references) | ||
If your child feels well, there is no need to insist on extra rest. However, there may be days, especially after chemotherapy or radiation therapy, when your child may seem lethargic or appear to need more rest. This is a normal result of the treatment. (references) | ||
Economic History | Nigeria | Nigerian economic performance was lethargic in 2000, registering a GDP growth rate of 2.8 percent, just marginally ahead of the previous year. (references) |
Singapore | The economic downturn in the neighboring ASEAN countries in 1998 and the lethargic recovery are responsible for the significant reduction in re-exports of vegetables. (references) | |
Philippines | Low inventories may also give the import bill some push in the months ahead which, combined with lethargic exports, may translate into a smaller current account surplus for the full year. (references) | |
Political Economy | PHILIPPINES | The balance of payments historically has registered current account surpluses (including those since the Asian crisis) during periods of economic weakness and lethargic import demand, but typically reverts to deficits as economic expansion accelerates. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Lethargic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Lethargic" is used about 111 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 111 | 30,796 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "lethargic": lethargic encephalitis. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
lethargic | 36 |
cat lethargic | 7 |
dog lethargic | 5 |
lethargic puppy | 4 |
kitten lethargic | 2 |
baby lethargic | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "lethargic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | letargjik, i përgjumur (asleep, dopey, dopy, dormant, dozy, drowsy, sleepy, slumberous, somnolent, soporific), i fjetur (dormant, sleeping, sleepy, stagnant, torpid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كسول (dull, idle, inactive, indolent, inert, languid, languorous, lazy, lumpish, passive, shiftless, slothful, slow, sluggard, sluggardly, sluggish, supine), نوامي, سباتي (carotin, comatose), بليد (bovine, dim, doltish, dopey, dull, inanimate, light minded, lumpish, obtuse, passive, silly, sleepy, slow, slow moving, sluggish, stupid, thick-headed, torpid, unworkable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | сънлив (dozy, drowsy, poppied, sleepy, slumberous, somnolent), апатичен (apathetic, apathetical, inanimate, languid, listless, spiritless, torpid, vacant), летаргичен (comatose, quiescent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | letargický, neteèný (apathetic, impassive, indifferent, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, passive, phlegmatic, sleepy, sluggish, supine), malátný (jaded, languid, languorous, limp, weary), apatický (apathetic, glassy, listless, torpid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | miosis ved dyb soevn (lethargic miosis). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | lusteloze stemming (inactive market, lethargic market), lusteloze markt (inactive market, lethargic market), lusteloze euromarkt (lethargic state of the Euromarket), lome markt (inactive market, lethargic market). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | سست (Atonic, Effeminate, Feckless, Floppy, Frail, Groggy, Inactive, Indolent, Insecure, Languid, Lax, Loose, Mild, Rattletrap, Remiss, Rickety, Shaky, Slack, Sleazy, Slender, Slothful, Supine, Tardy, Tepid, Torpid, Weak), بیحال (Insensate, Passive, Supine, Torpid). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | unelias (drowsy, sleepy), tarmoton (inert, lacking energy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | léthargique (lethean). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | lethargisch (lethargically). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ληθαργικόσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | חסר מרץ (languid, languorous), ר"ום (drowsy, sleepy, slumberous, somnolent, soporose). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | letargikus (lethargical, stuporous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | letargico (hibernating). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 無気力 (lassitude), 不活発 (dull, inactive, quiet, slow, sluggish), 不活溌 (dull, inactive, quiet, slow, sluggish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ふかっぱつ (dull, inactive, quiet, slow, sluggish), むきりょく (lassitude). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | gyn vree (expressionless, feeble, impotent, ineffective, ineffectual, inexpressive, inoperative, invalid, sapless, torpid, vigourless, void). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ethargiclay letárgico, mortal (cutthroat, dead, deadly, deathlike, deathly, earth-born, fatal, fleshly, killing, mortal, mortality, pernickety, pestilent, swashing). (various references) letargic (lethargical). (various references) страдающий летаргией, вялый (apathetic, apathetical, dopey, dopy, drowsy, exanimate, flabby, flaccid, flat, indolent, inert, insipid, lackadaisical, languid, languorous, listless, remiss, saggy, sapless, slack, sluggish, spiritless, stolid, torpid), летаргический (letrhargic). (various references) letargičan. (various references) letárgico. (various references) letargisk, slö (bovine, drowsy, dull, fat-witted, fishy, indolent, inert, languid, languorous, lazy, obtuse, sappy, slack, stagnant, supine), sömnsjuk. (various references) เฉื่อยชา (comatose, logy). (various references) uyuşuk (asleep, benumbed, bonelazy, bovine, dormant, drowsy, happy, indolent, inert, lackadaisical, lazy, lethargical, numb, poky, quiescent, slack, slacker, sleepy, slothful, slouching, slouchy, soggy, stick in the mud, supine, torpid), uyku halinde (dormant, lethargical). (various references) летаргічний. (various references) thờ ơ (apathetic, cool, disinterested, indifferent, lethargical, listless, nonchalant, pococurante). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | lentus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "lethargic": lethargically. (additional references) | |
| |
"Lethargic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: lathargic, Leghari, lentheric, letargic, Lethersich, lethragic, lettargic, leyhargic, Lithrig, Lothagam, lothargic, lythargic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "lethargic" (pronounced luthÄ"rjik) |
| 3 | -j i k | allergic, analogic, biologic, demagogic, geologic, gynecologic, illogic, logic, magic, neurologic, nonstrategic, nostalgic, paraplegic, pelagic, quadriplegic, strategic, technologic, tragic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-g-h-i-l-r-t" | |
-1 letter: litharge, teiglach, thirlage. | |
-2 letters: alright, article, charlie, cigaret, ethical, glacier, gracile, lathier, lighter, recital, relight, theriac, trachle. | |
-3 letters: achier, aiglet, aigret, alight, archil, aright, atelic, cagier, cahier, cartel, chalet, charge, chiral, chital, cither, citral, claret, eclair, gaiter, garlic, gather, gelati, glaire, glitch, hailer, halite, halter, hegari, hegira, heliac, lacier, lather, ligate, lither, rachet. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-g-h-i-l-r-t" | |
+1 letter: theurgical. | |
+2 letters: searchlight, telegraphic. | |
+3 letters: archeologist, cartwheeling, searchlights. | |
+4 letters: archaeologist, archeologists, candlelighter, copyrightable, lethargically, straightlaced. | |
+5 letters: archaeologists, candlelighters, dechlorinating, dermatoglyphic, ethnographical, herpetological, metallographic, petrographical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4C 65 74 68 61 72 67 69 63 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references).-.. . - .... .- .-. --. .. -.-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001100 01100101 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100111 01101001 01100011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)L e t h a r g i c |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004C 0065 0074 0068 0061 0072 0067 0069 0063 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)467186746784737569 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.