LETHARGY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lethargy mean? 

• LETHARGY (noun)
  The noun LETHARGY has 3 senses:

1. a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)

2. weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy

3. inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy

  Familiarity information: LETHARGY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LETHARGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

lassitude; lethargy; sluggishness

Hypernyms ("lethargy" is a kind of...):

torpidity; torpor (a state of motor and mental inactivity with a partial suspension of sensibility)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lethargy"):

hebetude (mental lethargy or dullness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

inanition; lassitude; lethargy; slackness

Hypernyms ("lethargy" is a kind of...):

weakness (the property of lacking physical or mental strength; liability to failure under pressure or stress or strain)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

flatness; languor; lethargy; phlegm; sluggishness

Context example:

the general appearance of sluggishness alarmed his friends

Hypernyms ("lethargy" is a kind of...):

inactiveness; inactivity; inertia (a disposition to remain inactive or inert)

Derivation:

lethargic (deficient in alertness or activity)

 Context examples 

They include hypoglycemia, muscle weakness and lethargy.

(Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase, Long-Chain Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms include difficulties in feeding and breathing, skin rash, seizures, lethargy, and coma.

(Neonatal Holocarboxylase Synthetase Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

They include vomiting, hypoglycemia and lethargy.

(Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase, Medium-Chain Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

She generally lies in a kind of lethargy all the afternoon, and wakes up about six or seven.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It presents with lethargy in the first few days of life, accompanied by developmental delay and mental retardation.

(Argininosuccinic Aciduria, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms appear early in life and include vomiting, dehydration, breathing difficulties, seizures, lethargy, and coma.

(Beta-Ketothiolase Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

He entered with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the armchair which I pushed forward for him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He added significantly:—"I did not like that lethargy of Madam Mina's. Souls and memories can do strange things during trance."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Symptoms include vomiting, lethargy, and coma.

(Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms vary from very mild to life threatening and include vomiting, seizures, lethargy, and coma.

(Isovaleric Acidemia, NCI Thesaurus)