as in boredom
physical or mental inertness
faced with a class forever enveloped in a miasma of apathy and intellectual hebetude, the professor had little hope of kindling an interest in medieval European history
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Recent Examples of hebetude
The leaden weight of an irremediable idleness descended upon General Feraud, who having no resources within himself sank into a state of awe-inspiring hebetude.
—
Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hebetude
Noun
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Pets staying at home alone while owners work suffer from boredom, which can cause chronic psychological distress and health problems.—
Margret Grebowicz,
Fortune,
13 Feb. 2026
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But the flip side of such routine is the potential for boredom and lethargy.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Warning signs in a child – fever, chills, lethargy, fast heartbeat or breathing, blotchy skin and/or a rash that doesn’t fade (as with meningitis) – can mirror many less serious conditions.—
Harriet Marsden,
TheWeek,
20 Feb. 2026
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These include lethargy and fainting—symptoms that hardly capture the disease’s classic presentation but still have real consequences.—
Roxanne Khamsi,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That’s perfectly satisfying for the lizard brain, but the attentive listener may long for the occasional act two to lift Evaporator out of its honeyed electronic stupor and toss a touch of sand in the gears.—
Ben Cardew,
Pitchfork,
23 Feb. 2026
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Last year, many were convinced American politics would be destabilized by videos manipulated by artificial intelligence, or lulled into a post-truth stupor by AI slop.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hebetude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hebetude. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
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