Standard Lemma guide

indisposition

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ɪnˌdɪspəˈzɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A mild illness, the state of being indisposed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A mild illness, the state of being indisposed.

Period, menstrual state.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, dated, euphemistic, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A state of not being disposed to do something; disinclination; unwillingness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A bad mood or disposition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 1597, Francis Bacon, Essays Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a certain degree of unwillingness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a reluctance to commit himself
  • his hesitancy revealed his basic indisposition
  • after some hesitation he agreed

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reluctance, hesitancy, hesitation, disinclination

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: unwillingness, involuntariness

Narrower terms: sloth, slothfulness

6

noun

Meaning 6

a slight illness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: illness, unwellness, malady, sickness

History

Etymology

From Middle English indisposicioun, from Middle French indisposicion.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: неразположение (nerazpoloženie) — mild illness
  • Catalan: indisposició — mild illness
  • French: indisposition — mild illness
  • German: Unpässlichkeit — mild illness
  • Greek: αδιαθεσία (adiathesía) — mild illness
  • Hungarian: gyengélkedés — mild illness
  • Irish: meath-thinneas — mild illness
  • Italian: indisposizione — mild illness
  • Portuguese: indisposição — mild illness
  • Spanish: achaque — mild illness
  • Spanish: indisposición — mild illness