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Sick and Tired: The Literal and Figurative Meanings of Lassitude
Lassitude and weariness make an interesting pair. As with many nearly synonymous pairs of words in English, one is derived from Latin and the other from Old English. Even though they both mean “the condition of being tired,” they are used in different ways. Following a common pattern, the Latinate word tends to be used in technical, medical, and formal writing, and the Old English-derived word is used when referring to physical, emotional, and spiritual qualities.
Lassitude comes from the Latin word lassus, meaning “weary.” Our English spelling comes from the French word that developed directly from Latin, borrowed in the 15th century. In French, the word las (masculine) or lasse (feminine) means “weary” or “tired,” and the idiom être las de means “to be sick and tired of.” This led to another English word with the same root: alas, a word that expresses sadness or disappointment, but conveys some measure of fatigue and resignation as well.
Though it sometimes is just a fancy word for fatigue in medical contexts, lassitude is also used in ways that are metaphorical and closer in meaning to “negligence”:
Congress was being choked by pettiness and lassitude.
The case was delayed because of sheer lassitude.
The failure was the result of moral lassitude.
Examples of weary in a Sentence
Paul Sorrell, Parabola, May 2000
But for the wilted weeds that managed to jut forth in wiry clumps where the mortar was cracked and washed away, the viaduct wall was barren of everything except the affirmation of a weary industrial city's prolonged and triumphant struggle to monumentalize its ugliness.
—Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997
Every day for a week Ellsworth showed up to see Clarence and every day Miss Eunice and Mr. George Edward would exchange weary glances and shrugs …
—Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, 1992
I need to rest my weary eyes.
The miners were weary after a long shift.
She was weary from years of housework.
Ryan MacAsero, Mercury News, 3 June 2026
His athleticism and vision will benefit Canada when opposition defenders grow weary late in games.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 2 June 2026
Nearly 2 million people a year wander through, snapping selfies, zipping up to the top in space-age pods, and resting city-weary feet in the grass.
—Robert Annis, Midwest Living, 31 May 2026
Friday afternoon — as lines of weary travelers stretched from Amtrak’s customer service desk — dozens of Amtrak workers, clad in hard-hats and high-viz vests, could be seen from the western end of Platform 6.
—Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 29 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for weary
Cite this Entry
“Weary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weary. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
weary
1 of 2 adjective
weary
2 of 2 verb
