Definition of LISTLESSNESS

Examples of listless in a Sentence

He became listless, answered in monosyllables, gurgled, drank a great deal of whisky, and looked with hateful eyes at everyone. —Isaiah Berlin, New York Times Book Review, 12 Apr. 1987
She looked up and saw everyone starting his work. She took out a piece of paper, feeling listless and bored as she did. —Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet the Spy, 1964
His blue eyes had lost their colour; they had a listless droop; and his mouth, losing the fulness of youth, was weak and pale. —W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915
Her pretty face was wan and listless, her hair uncurled—some locks hanging lankly down, and some carelessly twisted round her head. —Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1847
The heat made everyone tired and listless.
The party was a listless affair.

Recent Examples of listless from the Web

Placing so much emphasis on this mystery meant the episode, clearly positioned as a tense set-up before the election results are revealed, felt listless and circular rather than riveting.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "House of Cards Season 5, Episode 3: The Live-Binge Review", 30 May 2017
World stock markets were listless Monday as investors look to a raft of economic data this week and as holidays in several key markets crimped trading volume.

— kelvin chan, The Seattle Times, "World shares muted as investors await raft of economic data", 29 May 2017
The next morning, the movie shook up a largely listless event that has been stuffed with near-misses and entries that tend to preach at viewers or punish them, often both.

— manohla dargis, New York Times, "Robert Pattinson Knows What You Think, but He Can Work With That", 28 May 2017
For the better part of the afternoon against Wake Forest on Friday, the Hurricanes looked listless and struggled at the plate while the third-seeded Demon Deacons held the lead.

— christy cabrera chirinos, Sun-Sentinel.com, "UM baseball advances to ACC tournament semis with win over Wake", 26 May 2017
Stocks have been relatively listless since hitting records early last month.

— christopher whittall, WSJ, "U.S. Stocks Edge Higher in Quiet Trading", 10 Apr. 2017
Eventually, the sheer volume of home videos gave rise to listless ambles through the video store.

— ian bogost, The Atlantic, "Rest in Peace, VCR", 26 July 2016
Stymied by the now-listless spacecraft, NASA reached out to the space community for possible ways to keep using the craft to look for new planets.

— nick stockton, WIRED, "Inside K2, NASA’s Mission that Just Discovered More than 100 New Exoplanets", 20 July 2016
Their loss at home Sunday to the reliably putrid Sacramento Kings featured their worst 2016 traits: listless defense, shooting that more properly looked like flinging, passing to men who weren’t cutting, and cutting to men who weren’t passing.

— michael powell, New York Times, "Sign Up for the Sports Newsletter", 25 Mar. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'listless'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of listless

Middle English listles, from ²list —see ²list

First Known Use: 15th century

listless Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of listless

languid, languorous, lackadaisical, listless, spiritless mean lacking energy or enthusiasm. languid refers to an unwillingness or inability to exert oneself due to fatigue or physical weakness. was depressed and languid for weeks after surgery languorous suggests a dreamy boredom and delicacy that avoids unnecessary activity. languorous cats lying in the sun lackadaisical implies a carefree indifference marked by half-hearted efforts. lackadaisical college seniors pretending to study listless suggests a lack of interest caused by physical weakness or dissatisfied boredom. listless hospital patients listless children flipping through picture books on a rainy day spiritless refers to a lack of animation or vigor that gives one's actions and words life. a spiritless recital of the poem

listless