inertia
English · Thesaurus
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inertia
- /ɪnˈɜː.ʃə/ Australia, UK
- /ɪˈnɜː.ʃə/ Australia, UK
- /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/ US
- /ɪˈnɝ.ʃə/ US
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)ʃə
Where it comes from
From Latin inertia (“lack of art or skill, inactivity, indolence”), from iners (“unskilled, inactive”), from in- (“without, not”) + ars (“skill, art”). Something close to the modern physics sense was first used in New Latin by Johannes Kepler.
noun inertias · inertiae · inertiæ
- The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.
-
In a person, unwillingness to take action.
Men […] have immense irresolution and inertia.
Similar: idleness, laziness, sloth, slothfulness
- Lack of activity; sluggishness; said especially of the uterus, when, in labour, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: inactivity, inactiveness, momentum, gridlock, paralysis, deadlock, slowness, laxity, slackness, tardiness, standstill, sluggishness, impasse, torpor, inflexibility, lethargy
Translations
Every language
noun in physics
| Español | inercia |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 慣性 kansei |
| 中文 | 慣性 /惯性 guànxìng |
| हिन्दी | अक्रियता akriytā |
| Português | inércia |
| Français | inertie |
| Deutsch | Trägheit, Beharrungsvermögen, Beharrung |
| Italiano | inerzia |
| Ελληνικά | αδράνεια adráneia |
| Română | inerție |
| Русский | ине́рция inɛ́rcija |
| Tiếng Việt | quán tính |
| العربية | عَطَالَة ʕaṭāla |
noun unwillingness to take action
| Español | inercia |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 惰性 dasei |
| हिन्दी | निष्क्रियता niṣkriytā |
| Português | inércia |
| Deutsch | Trägheit, Schwerfälligkeit, Unbeweglichkeit |
| Italiano | inerzia |
| Русский | ине́ртность inɛ́rtnostʹ, вя́лость vjálostʹ |
| العربية | عَطَالَة ʕaṭāla |
noun in medicine
| Deutsch | Reglosigkeit, Schwerfälligkeit, Trägheit |
|---|
Talk about this word "inertia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/inertia. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. inertia. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/inertia "inertia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/inertia.Cite this
@misc{inertia_2026,
title = {inertia},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/inertia},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
