idlenessEnglishOxford English Thesaurusidleness noun 1 he was birched for his idleness at school: laziness, indolence, slothfulness, sloth, shiftlessness, inertia, sluggishness, lethargy, languor, torpidity, torpor; remissness, negligence, slackness, laxity; French, archaic fainéance; rare otiosity, hebetude. ▷antonyms industry. 2 we suffered a period of enforced idleness: inactivity, inaction, dormancy, unemployment, rest, repose. ▷antonyms activity.idleness Oxford Dictionary of English