The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Apathy \Ap"a*thy\, n.; pl. Apathies. [L. apathia, Gr. ?; 'a
priv. + ?, fr. ?, ?, to suffer: cf. F. apathie. See
Pathos.]
Want of feeling; privation of passion, emotion, or
excitement; dispassion; -- applied either to the body or the
mind. As applied to the mind, it is a calmness, indolence, or
state of indifference, incapable of being ruffled or roused
to active interest or exertion by pleasure, pain, or passion.
"The apathy of despair." --Macaulay.
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A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which
led him . . . to leave events to take their own course.
--Prescott.
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According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of
the passions by the ascendency of reason. --Fleming.
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Note: In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted
the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns.
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Syn: Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern;
stoicism; supineness; sluggishness.
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