apathy

American  

[ap-uh-thee] / ˈæp ə θi /

noun

apathies plural

1. absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

   Synonyms:

   coolness

   Antonyms:

   fervor, ardor

2. lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.

3. Stoicism. Also apatheia, apathia freedom from emotion of any kind.

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apathy British  

/ ˈæpəθɪ /

noun

1. absence of interest in or enthusiasm for things generally considered interesting or moving

2. absence of emotion

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Usage

What does apathy mean? Apathy is the state of not caring. The word is especially used to refer to a lack of interest or concern about things, especially those that others find important or exciting. It can also mean the absence or suppression of emotion or passion. Apathy often means about the same thing as indifference, but it’s more often used in the context of someone’s lack of action when action is needed. The adjective apathetic is used to describe someone in such a state. The word apathy is typically used in a negative way to criticize such a state or attitude as being irresponsible or insensitive. When someone is accused of apathy, it usually means the person making the accusation thinks the apathetic person should care more—or at all. Example: The apathy of your generation is astounding—it’s like none of you care about any of the big problems in the world!

Synonym Usage

See indifference.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• apathies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of apathy

First recorded in 1595–1605; from French or directly from Latin apathīa, from Greek apátheia “insensibility to suffering,” equivalent to apathe- (stem of apathḗs ) “unfeeling” ( a- a- ⁶ + pathe-, variant stem of páthos pathos ) + -ia -ia

Explanation

Use the noun apathy when someone isn't interested in the important things that are happening. You might feel apathy for the political process after watching candidates bicker tediously with one another. Although apathy is a lazy-sounding word indicating a lack of interest, action, or emotion, it has traveled through many languages to arrive in English. From the Greek apatheia, "freedom from suffering" or "impassibility," apathy has existed in English since the 17th century. Not just one person, but a whole segment of the population can be accused of inaction or emotional detachment: the expressions voter apathy, student apathy, and consumer apathy show just how unenthusiastic groups of people can be.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apathy apathies

The musician has been receiving medication and treatment; but says the condition also comes with episodes of anxiety, depression, and apathy.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Maybe what “Network” nails most of all is apathy: that even the most righteously committed can have their heads turned from their true goals and then struggle to get back on track.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Investor apathy toward China stems from weak consumer spending and bank loan growth, and increased US-China trade restrictions.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Fashioning your lead actor as a totem to project your thoughts about apathy and loneliness would be a risky move for anyone other than writer-director Amanda Kramer, who’s made a career out of brazen chicness.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

From time to time, SS officers on motorcycles drove the length of the column to shake off the growing apathy: “Hold on! We’re almost there!”

From "Night" by Elie Wiesel

But European civilization, as Shirer's people embody it, has become a complex of nostalgias, apathies, pleasant habits.

From Time Magazine Archive

What the great Luther called, without describing them, his 'tribulations'—those dreadful doubts and apathies which at times menace and darken the radiant fabric of faith, and fill the soul with nameless horrors.

From Wylder's Hand by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

Among the commonest manifestations of insanity are excitements and depressions, apathies and manias, hallucinations, delusions and obsessions, all of which are reproducible under known conditions of internal secretion excess or failure.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Berman, Louis, M.D.

After interviews have been compassed with long foresight, we must be tormented presently by baffled blows, by sudden, unseasonable apathies, by epilepsies of wit and of animal spirits, in the heyday of friendship and thought.

From Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Turpin, Edna Henry Lee

I am, in plainer words, a bundle of prejudices—made up of likings and dislikings—the veriest thrall to sympathies, apathies, antipathies.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Lamb, Charles

Related Words

• indifference
• insensitivity
• lethargy