Lassitude

(pronounced las-uh-tood or las-uh-tyood) noun

Definition

1. a state of weariness (as from physical or mental strain); extreme tiredness; exhaustion. 2. a condition of listlessness or lack of energy; languor.

Main Example

In the last ten years, hundreds of park rangers charged with protecting elephants and other precious wildlife in Africa have been killed by poachers out to make large amounts of money while satisfying the gluttonous and ignoble demand for blood ivory in China and South East Asia. Note that these rangers laid down their lives not just because they were doing their job but because they believed in the sanctity of wild animal life, especially that of elephants who, apart from being one of the most majestic of our fellow mammals, are extremely sentient beings with a highly developed sense of social structure and family relationships. For instance, elephants are known to grieve intensely over the death of a family member, just as we do.

This author beseeches and pleads with his numerous Chinese and South East Asian readers to marshal their intellectual power and ennoble themselves by taking forceful action to help save Africa’s elephants. Specifically, they should use all possible means, including social media, to goad and shame their respective governments into shedding their moral lassitude and squelching the demand for ivory.

Workplace Examples

Kudos to our CEO, Craig, for turning around the roofing business, which was a perennial money loser. By taking some really shrewd steps, he has lifted it out of its lassitude and made it solidly profitable.
Sadly, the mayor has accomplished very little of the bold action plan he presented upon taking office two years ago. A sense of lassitude has crept into his once ambitious agenda, thanks to the distractions of all the ongoing investigations into his past business dealings.

Other Examples

a colleague saying: “I’ve been suffering from some sort of inexplicable lassitude all day today. I didn’t feel like doing my morning workout, so I skipped that…no bright ideas occurred to me while shaving or showering--typically my most creative moments. Even during the boss’s staff meeting, I was only half awake.”
some federal agencies getting flak from both sides of the political aisle, what with Republicans charging them with too much meddling and the Democrats accusing them of “regulatory lassitude”
the international outrage over police lassitude within the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez where well over a thousand young women have been murdered since 1993; Russian President Vladimir Putin giving the impression of being an active and engaged leader, in sharp contrast to the lassitude of the Boris Yeltsin years
on being asked by Charlie Rose what he had discovered while observing the U.S. Senate, George Packer, author of a New Yorker piece tellingly titled “The Empty Chamber,” responding: “There is a kind of lassitude, as if there was no energy, nothing seemed to be happening for hours at a time…quorum calls that would go on and on…”