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.
A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which
led him . . . to leave events to take their own course.
Prescott.
According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction
of the passions by the ascendency of reason.
Fleming.
☞ In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term
to express a contempt of earthly concerns.
Syn. -- Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern;
stoicism; supineness; sluggishness.