apathy

Etymology

From French apathie, from Latin apathīa, from Ancient Greek ἀπάθεια (apátheia, “impassibility”, “insensibility”, “freedom from emotion”), from ἀπαθής (apathḗs, “not suffering or having suffered”, “without experience of”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + πάθος (páthos, “anything that befalls one”, “incident”, “emotion”, “passion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.pə.θi/

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Noun

apathy (usually uncountable, plural apathies)

1. Complete lack of emotion or motivation about a person, activity, or object; depression; lack of interest or enthusiasm; disinterest.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 2, in Frankenstein‎:

     I opened it with apathy; the theory which he attempts to demonstrate and the wonderful facts which he relates soon changed this feeling into enthusiasm.

Anagrams

• Pyhtää