heb·e·tude

(hĕb′ĭ-to͞od′, -tyo͞od′)

Dullness of mind; mental lethargy.

[Late Latin hebetūdō, from Latin hebes, hebet-, dull.]

heb′e·tu′di·nous (-to͞od′n-əs, -tyo͞od′-) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hebetude

(ˈhɛbɪˌtjuːd)

rare mental dullness or lethargy

[C17: from Late Latin hebetūdō, from Latin hebes blunt]

ˌhebeˈtudinous adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

heb•e•tude

(ˈhɛb ɪˌtud, -ˌtyud)

n.

the state of being dull; lethargy.

[1615–25; < Late Latin hebetūdō= Latin hebet-, s. of hebes dull + -ūdō; see -tude]

heb`e•tu′di•nous, adj.

hebetude

the state, condition, or quality of being dull, enervated, or lethargie. — hebetudinous, adj.

hebetude

noun

A deficiency in mental and physical alertness and activity:

dullness, languidness, languor, lassitude, leadenness, lethargy, listlessness, sluggishness, stupor, torpidity, torpor.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In the doorway Stevie, calmed, seemed sunk in hebetude.

View in context

One of his canons, you know, was that "the indulgence which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces a greater pain, is to be avoided." Your love of repose will lead, in its progress, to a suspension of healthy exercise, a relaxation of mind, an indifference to everything around you, and finally to a debility of body, and hebetude of mind, the farthest of all things from the happiness which the well-regulated indulgences of Epicurus ensure; fortitude, you know, is one of his four cardinal virtues.

The Greeks and America's founding fathers, Part 1: The Greek Frame

Or quand Siltana, par amour pour Klodonis, lui donne du sel a gouter et que ce dernier sort de son hebetude, la premiere reaction de ce mort redevenu vivant est de donner une gifle epouvantablement forte a sa liberatrice : <<Li koupe Siltana youn patasouel krazebrizedemantibileblayivide>> (FRANKETIENNE, 1975: 295) (Il lui flanqua une gifle-a ecraser-briser-detruire-jeter par terre-a couper le souffle).

Haitian women's long march: from sister to mother/La longue marche des femmes haitiennes: de la soeur a la mere