lə̇ˈthärjik, leˈ-, -thȧj-, -jēk adjective
Etymology: probably from Middle French lethargique, from Latin lethargicus, from Greek lēthargikos, from lēthargos lethargy + -ikos -ic
1.
a. : of, relating to, or characterized by lethargy : slow-moving , sluggish
bullfrogs … were quite lethargic after storage — A.C.Giese
the market … was even more lethargic than they indicated — Fortune
the lethargic sullen power of the ocean — Norman Mailer
b. : listless , indifferent , apathetic , dull
the weak and lethargic government of Spain — Bernard DeVoto
a lethargic entrepreneur in the egg business — Roger Eddy
2. : causing lethargy : soporific
yielded to the lethargic music and fell asleep
Synonyms:
lethargic , sluggish , torpid , comatose : lethargic implies a state of sleepiness or drowsiness that makes for slowness in reaction, responses, or movements and that may be constitutional, temporary, or induced by disease or injury
a lethargic effect to compare somewhat with the effect of insulin — Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases
she did look — not exactly sleepy, but lethargic, relaxed. All her movements were peculiarly slow — Margery Sharp
a people grown lethargic from economic abundance — V.L.Parrington
sluggish describes a similar state but often implies criticism
sluggish transportation
sluggish pond
sluggish digestion
England has become unenterprising and sluggish because England has been so prosperous and comfortable — H.G.Wells
we are apt to scorn your neighbor because his rate of motion is faster or more sluggish than our own — A.L.Guérard
torpid and comatose both imply an aberration, more or less lasting, from the normal; torpid literally implies the numb or benumbed state of a hibernating animal, but in its more common extended sense it implies a lack of energy, responsiveness, or vigor commonly associated with healthy, active individuals
Oxford was torpid also, droning along in its eighteenth-century grooves — Van Wyck Brooks
it would be a torpid and spiritless reader … who would pass by everything sensational — F.L.Mott
as a reviver of the half-dead, or the merely torpid, Mencken's only rival … was Bernard Shaw — DeLancey Ferguson
comatose literally suggests the state of profound insensibility of a coma
the almost comatose condition which had first intervened never developed into a fatal diabetic coma — Havelock Ellis
in extended use comatose implies immobility, stagnation, extreme lethargy, often due to a paralyzing external force
the tradition of art remained comatose. Here and there a genius appeared and wrestled with the coils of convention — Clive Bell