different between listless vs tired

English

Etymology

From Middle English lystles, equivalent to list (“desire”) +? -less. Compare Dutch lusteloos (“lethargic, listless”). Doublet of lustless.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?stl?s/

Adjective

listless (comparative more listless, superlative most listless)

1. Lacking energy, enthusiasm, or liveliness.
   • 1818, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, ch. 18:

     I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless.

   • 1861, Charlotte M. Yonge, The Stokesley Secret, ch. 6:

     What an entirely different set of beings were those Stokesley children in lesson-time. . . . Poor, listless, stolid, deplorable logs, with bowed backs and crossed ankles, pipy voices and heavy eyes!

   • 1901, William Somerset Maugham, The Hero, ch. 21:

     The scene with Mrs. Wallace had broken his spirit, and he was listless now, indifferent to what happened.

   • 2005 Nov. 29, Aryn Baker, "John Hardy: Bali Guy," Time:

     “Listless, inattentive, distracted,” he recited. “A daydreamer. Tries his best, but is too slow.”

Derived terms

• listlessly
• listlessness

Translations

Anagrams

• slitless

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ta??d/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ta??d/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)d

Verb

tired

1. simple past tense and past participle of tire

Adjective

tired (comparative more tired or tireder, superlative most tired or tiredest)

1. In need of some rest or sleep.
2. Fed up, annoyed, irritated, sick of.

   I'm tired of this

3. Overused, cliché.

   a tired song

4. (slang, African-American Vernacular) ineffectual; incompetent

Usage notes

• Adverbs often applied to "tired": physically, mentally, emotionally.

Synonyms

• (in need of rest): exhausted, fatigued, languid; See also Thesaurus:fatigued
• (in need of sleep): sleepy; See also Thesaurus:sleepy
• (fed up): See also Thesaurus:annoyed
• (overused): See also Thesaurus:hackneyed

Translations

See also

• I am tired
• sick and tired
• that tired feeling

Anagrams

• drite, tride, tried