INERTIA

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does inertia mean? 

• INERTIA (noun)
  The noun INERTIA has 2 senses:

1. a disposition to remain inactive or inert

2. (physics) the tendency of a body to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force

  Familiarity information: INERTIA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INERTIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A disposition to remain inactive or inert

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

inactiveness; inactivity; inertia

Context example:

he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work

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

trait (a distinguishing feature of your personal nature)

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

flatness; languor; lethargy; phlegm; sluggishness (inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy)

restfulness (the attribute of being restful)

passiveness; passivity (the trait of remaining inactive; a lack of initiative)

indolence; laziness (inactivity resulting from a dislike of work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(physics) the tendency of a body to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

mechanical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

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

moment of inertia (the tendency of a body to resist angular acceleration)

 Context examples 

You enlarge my view of the possible. Cerebral paresis! Mental inertia! Wonderful!

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I work closely with the Commission but if I may say so, there is a sort of inertia.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Simulations used to describe the motion of molecules in solution, generally discounting the effects of inertia.

(Brownian Dynamics, NCI Thesaurus)

Heavily built and massive, there was a suggestion of uncouth physical inertia in the figure, but above this unwieldy frame there was perched a head so masterful in its brow, so alert in its steel-grey, deep-set eyes, so firm in its lips, and so subtle in its play of expression, that after the first glance one forgot the gross body and remembered only the dominant mind.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The inertia is indeed reprehensible.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)