accidie

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noun (1)

ac·​cid·​ie ˈak-sə-dē 

: an emotional state characterized especially by feelings of weariness, apathy, or restlessness : acedia

At a deeper level, it is our own accidie—which the playwright Arthur Miller described as periods of stupefying spiritual and psychological stasis—that is under scrutiny …

—Stephen Brown

But another great enemy of the truth is just the opposite of conviction: indifference. The Roman Catholic Church, which, like Nietzsche, knows something about conviction, has a name for this apathy: acedia (or accidie), which is laziness of spirit, idleness of soul.

—Ralph Estling

acedia

2 of 2

noun (2)

ace·​dia ə-ˈsē-dē-ə 

: an emotional state characterized especially by feelings of weariness, apathy, or restlessness

Medieval monks were prone to something called acedia—a "kind of unreasonable confusion of mind," as the ascetic John Cassian wrote in the fifth century, in which they couldn't do much of anything but go in and out of their cells, sighing that "none of the brethren" came to see them, and looking up at the sun "as if it was too slow in setting."

—Margaret Talbot

A wily demon, acedia is difficult to pin down. … The term itself defies translation: despondency, sloth, lassitude, ennui, melancholy—each displays an aspect, none the full image.

—Jeff Reimer

But I can at least console myself that Richard [Edwards] never succumbed to acedia. On the contrary, he filled every unforgiving minute and lived a rich and happy life, overflowing with love and meaning.

—Toby Young

It's here … that we see more clearly what drives the restlessness and dislocation so many have been feeling. The source of our current acedia is not the literal loss of a future; even the most pessimistic scenarios surrounding Covid-19 have our species surviving. The dislocation is more subtle: a disruption in pretty much every future frame of reference on which just going on in the present relies.

—Nick Couldry and Bruce Schneier

called also accidie

Did you know?

Acedia comes from a combination of the negative prefix a- and the Greek noun kēdos, meaning "care, concern, or grief." (The Greek word akēdeia became acedia in Late Latin, and that spelling was retained in English.) Acedia initially referred specifically to the "deadly sin" of sloth. It first appeared in print in English in 1607 describing ceremonies which could induce this sin in ministers and pastors, but that sense is now rare. Acedia now tends to be used more generally to simply imply a lack of interest or caring, although it sometimes still carries overtones of laziness.

Examples of accidie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Side effects may include irritability, agitation, nausea, palpitations, tremor, and accidie. — John E. McIntyre, baltimoresun.com, 12 May 2018

Noun

His cycles of anxiety and acedia grew so acute that suicide seemed the only escape. — Washington Post, 15 Jan. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English accidie, accyde, borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin accidia, alteration of Late Latin acēdia — more at acedia

Note: The forms with [i] in the medial syllable, apparently attested in the early Middle Ages (in the 8th-century Second Corpus Glossary of Old English), appear to show influence of Byzantine or earlier pronunciation of Greek (in which eta and iota merge), but it also has been suggested that the word has been assimilated to Latin accidere (see accident); however, the semantic grounds for such assimilation are unclear.

Noun (2)

borrowed from Medieval Latin acēdia "apathy, torpor, sloth," borrowed from Late Greek akēdía "negligence, apathy," going back to Greek akḗdeia "carelessness, indifference," noun derivative of akēdḗs "uncared for, without care or worry, careless, heedless," from a- a- entry 2 + -kēdēs, adjective derivative of kêdos "care, anxiety, grief" — more at hate entry 1

First Known Use

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1607, in the meaning defined above