noun
Meaning 1
Mental lethargy or dullness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncommon, uncountable
Examples
- 1600, translation attributed to Thomas Nashe, The Hospitall of Incurable Fooles by Tomaso Garzoni, London: Edward Blount, Discourse 6, pp. 32-33, The intemperature of the braine is the cause of al this (as phisitions affirme) which maketh all the officiall, and functiue parts full of heauines and indisposition, and so through this hebetude (to vse their terme) vnapt to keepe in minde any thing.
- 1985, Oliver Sacks, “The Lost Mariner”, chapter 2 in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Reset 2007 edition), page 33, footnote 2, This dwelling on the past and relative hebetude towards the present – this emotional dulling of current feeling and memory – is nothing like Jimmie’s organic amnesia.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dullwittedness, dimness, dimwittedness
Antonyms: sharpness, acuity, brightness, brain, brains, cleverness, head, esprit, intellect, intelligence, mind, nous, psyche, reason, smartness, smarts, wit, judgment