different between unexcited vs listless

English

Etymology

un- +? excited

Adjective

unexcited (comparative more unexcited, superlative most unexcited)

1. Not feeling excitement or keen interest; placid; bored.

   Having seen the film twice before, I felt distinctly unexcited at the prospect of a third viewing.

2. Not in a state of excitation.
   • 1759, Literary Memoirs of Germany and the North

     From some excited bodies there proceeds for a certain distance to others unexcited, a light, which is reflected from the latter to the former, and in the reflexion snaps; and which upon touching the skin of a man or beast is felt with a smarting: This snapping light is call'd the electrical Sparks.

Translations

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