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Inert   /ɪnˈərt/   Listen
adjective
Inert  adj.  
1.
Destitute of the power of moving itself, or of active resistance to motion; as, matter is inert.
2.
Indisposed to move or act; very slow to act; sluggish; dull; inactive; indolent; lifeless. "The inert and desponding party of the court." "It present becomes extravagant, then imbecile, and at length utterly inert."
3.
Not having or manifesting active properties; not affecting other substances when brought in contact with them; powerless for an expected or desired effect; as, the noble gases are chemically inert.
Synonyms: Inactive; dull; passive; indolent; sluggish; slothful; lazy; lifeless; irresolute; stupid; senseless; insensible. Inert, Inactive, Sluggish. A man may be inactive from mere lack of stimulus to effort; but one who is inert has something in his constitution or his habits which operates like a weight holding him back from exertion. Sluggish is still stronger, implying some defect of temperament which directly impedes action. Inert and inactive are negative, sluggish is positive. "Even the favored isles... Can boast but little virtue; and, inert Through plenty, lose in morals what they gain In manners victims of luxurious ease." "Doomed to lose four months in inactive obscurity." "Sluggish Idleness, the nurse of sin, Upon a slothful ass he chose to ride."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Inert" Quotes from Famous Books



... volatile matter in coal, and its relation to the operation of coke ovens and other forms of combustion, have demonstrated that as much as one-third of this matter is inert and non-combustible, a fact which may have a direct bearing on smoke prevention by explaining its cause and ...
— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 • Herbert M. Wilson

... these. One stands bewildered and aghast before men capable of such deeds; and, if they defy frivolous judgment, even to explain them seems beyond the power of one who, in the presence of the same wrongs that so deeply moved them, can still remain inert. Yet is there any escape to the conclusion that all this was utter waste of life and devotion? Far from awakening in their opponents the slightest thought of social wrong, these men, at the expense of their lives, awakened only a spirit ...
— Violence and the Labor Movement • Robert Hunter

... Like the earth they master and serve, those men, slow of eye and speech, do not show the inner fire; so that, at last, it becomes a question with them as with the earth, what there is in the core: heat, violence, a force mysterious and terrible—or nothing but a clod, a mass fertile and inert, cold and unfeeling, ready to bear a crop of plants that sustain life or ...
— Tales of Unrest • Joseph Conrad

... the constant care of Doctor Belton, who was much interested in the case, Cardo, or Charles Williams as he was now called, recovered strength of body; and, to a slight extent, restoration to consciousness; for though he lay inert and motionless, his lips moved incessantly in a low muttering or whispering, in which the nurses in vain endeavoured to find a clue to the ...
— By Berwen Banks • Allen Raine

... desiring that he should make some personal effort to recover the victory which was 10 passing into the hands of the Templar and his associates. But, though both stout of heart and strong of person, Athelstane had a disposition too inert and unambitious to make the exertions which Cedric seemed to expect from ...
— Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year • E.C. Hartwell


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