different between serene vs listless

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s???i?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s???in/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin ser?nus (“clear, cloudless, untroubled”).

Adjective

serene (comparative more serene or serener, superlative most serene or serenest)

1. Peaceful, calm, unruffled.
2. Without worry or anxiety; unaffected by disturbance.
3. (archaic) fair and unclouded (as of the sky); clear; unobscured.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a gem of purest ray serene / The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
4. Used as part of certain titles, originally to indicate sovereignty or independence.

Related terms

• all serene
• serenity

Translations

Verb

serene (third-person singular simple present serenes, present participle serening, simple past and past participle serened)

1. (transitive) To make serene.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. (poetic) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer

     the serene of heaven

   • 1742, Edward Young, Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality

     To their master is denied / To share their sweet serene.

2. Evening air; night chill.

   • Some serene blast me.

Etymology 2

Old French serein (“evening”), Vulgar Latin *ser?num (from substantive use of s?rum, neuter of s?rus (“late”)) + -?nus suffix.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. A fine rain from a cloudless sky after sunset.

Synonyms

• serein

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. serein n. 1.

Anagrams

• reseen, resene

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

serene

1. Inflected form of sereen

Esperanto

Etymology

serena +? -e

Adverb

serene

1. calmly, serenely

Italian

Adjective

serene

1. feminine plural of sereno

Latin

Etymology 1

From ser?nus +? -?.

Adverb

ser?n? (comparative ser?nius, superlative ser?nissim?)

1. clearly, brightly

Etymology 2

Adjective

ser?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of ser?nus

References

• serene in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

serene

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of serenar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of serenar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of serenar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of serenar

Spanish

Verb

serene

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of serenar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of serenar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of serenar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of serenar.

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