- indolence
- c.1600, "insensitivity to pain," from Fr. indolence (16c.), from L. indolentia "freedom from pain, insensibility," noun of action from indolentem (nom. indolens) "insensitive to pain," used by Jerome to render Gk. apelgekos in Ephesians; from L. in- "not" + dolentem (nom. dolens) "grieving," prp. of dolere "suffer pain." Sense of "laziness" (1710) is from notion of "avoiding trouble" (cf. taking pains).