different between zestless vs zestlessness

English

Etymology

zest +? -less

Adjective

zestless (comparative more zestless, superlative most zestless)

1. Lacking zest; passionless, unenthusiastic.
   • 1792, Robert Sadler, Wanley Penson, or The Melancholy Man, London: C. & G. Kearsley, Volume 3, p. 252,^[1]

     There are moments, indeed, in which I could be pleased to repay even a zestless joke with a smile, and, to feed the cheerfulness of a companion, rummage my own recollection for a mirthful incident; but, alas! ’tis not so now—My soul is too much absorbed in its own gloomy ruminations, to be drawn forth by its accustomed urbanity […]

   • 1865, Charles Heavysege, Jephthah’s Daughter, Montreal: Dawson Brothers, IV, (unpaginated),^[2]

     […] So he passes

     To second childhood; but, as quickening gases,

     Being fled, leave zestless a once cheering draught,

     We grow not merry though the Dotard laughed.

   • 1941, James Hilton, Random Harvest, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., Part Four, p. 249,^[3]

     As he descended the stairs he felt calmer, readier to do battle with the forces arrayed against him; and that made him feel a little warm towards the weak healthy boy who never did battle at all, but just drank and debauched himself in a bored, zestless way.

   • c. 1956, Martin Luther King Jr., sermon delivered at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott, cited in Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulder, CO: Blue Mountain Press, p. 81,^[4]

     Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live.

Derived terms

• zestlessly
• zestlessness

English

Etymology

zestless +? -ness

Noun

zestlessness (uncountable)

1. The state or condition of being zestless; lack of passion or enthusiasm.
   • 1932, Pearl S. Buck, Sons, Wakefield, RI: Moyer Bell, 1997, Chapter 15, p. 149,^[1]

     But now, pondering all this during these weeks of his despondency he grew frightened at his own zestlessness, and he did not even care to eat so much as he had, and when he found his appetite for food waning he was frightened lest he die too soon, and he said to himself that he must rid himself of some of his troubles.