Manvir SinghJazmine UlloaJohnny Cash, quoted in Rolling Stone
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The Greek Origins of Apathy
Once more without feeling! While its siblings antipathy, sympathy, and empathy refer to often strong emotions, whether tender or terrible, apathy is unconcerned with all that. Whether one is feeling blasé, indifferent, or—to use a more recent coinage—meh, apathy is the perfect word for such a lack of passion. At the root of apathy and its kin is páthos, a Greek word meaning “experience, misfortune, or emotion,” which led first to the adjective apathḗs (“not suffering, without passion or feeling, impassive”) and then the noun apatheîa before passing through Latin and Middle French on its way to English. The prefix a- in both means “without.” The other aforementioned páthos descendants are, of course, supplied with their own prefixes that give clues to their respective meanings: anti- (“opposite”), sym- (“at the same time”), and em- (“in” or “within”).
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How Apathy Differs From Impassivity and Indifference
Apathy, impassivity, and indifference all denote a lack of responsiveness to something that might normally excite interest or emotion. Apathy suggests a puzzling or deplorable inertness or lack of passion, as in “the problem of continued voter apathy.” Impassivity stresses the absence of any external sign of emotion in action or facial expression, as in “teachers frustrated by the impassivity of their students.” Indifference connotes a lack of interest in or concern about something, as in “the company’s apparent indifference to the needs of its employees.”
Examples of apathy in a Sentence
Richard Corliss, Time, 20 Oct. 2008
But short of such complete apathy, there are other neurological conditions in which the capacity for genuine emotion is compromised. One sees this in some forms of autism, in the "flat affect" of some schizophrenics. … But here, as with Harry, music can often break through, if only in a limited way or for a brief time, and release seemingly normal emotions.
—Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, 2008
According to the polls, "the American people, as opposed to some of their leaders, seek no converts to their ideology." And they are not "cultural imperialists." Maybe not. But this reserve seems grounded less in humility (60 percent of Americans consider their culture "superior to others") than in apathy.
—Robert Wright, New York Times Book Review, 14 May 2006
The result could well be further inequality of political information, with avid followers of politics becoming ever more knowledgeable while the rest of the public slips deeper into political apathy.
—Martin P. Wattenberg, Atlantic, October 1998
People have shown surprising apathy toward these important social problems.
Erin Nicholson, Twin Cities, 6 Nov. 2025
On the Amazon Prime Video postgame recap of the Lakers-Grizzlies clash, former six-time All-Star power forward Blake Griffin took umbrage with Morant's occasional mid-game bouts with apathy.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Ross better hit a home run on his next hires, adding executives and a head coach who injects hope into the veins of this fan base like Parcells once did, because at this rate Dolphins apathy will become the constant.
—Omar Kelly
november 4, Miami Herald, 4 Nov. 2025
The apathy played into his firing eight days later.
—Matt Baker, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for apathy
Cite this Entry
“Apathy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apathy. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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apathy
noun
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