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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
inactivity
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But even she dared not dance, an inconvenience since Harry was plainly bored with this inactivity.
▪ By this stage even Asquith was worried about government inactivity.
▪ Daley leaned heavily on his precinct captains, charging Kennelly with inactivity.
▪ Is there any danger that this experience may precipitate five years of creative inactivity?
▪ So inactivity has a good deal going for it.
▪ The results of this inactivity epidemic are predictable.
▪ There are, however, often specific periods of, usually, intense activity, followed by periods of inactivity.
▪ They often occur because of conflicting considerations producing inactivity.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Inactivity

Inactivity \In`ac*tiv"i*ty\, n. [Cf. F. inactivit['e].]

  1. The state or quality of being inactive; inertness; as, the inactivity of matter.

  2. Idleness; habitual indisposition to action or exertion; lack of energy; sluggishness.

    The gloomy inactivity of despair.
    --Cook.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
inactivity

1640s, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + activity. Phrase masterly inactivity attested by 1791.

Wiktionary
inactivity

n. The quality of being inactive; idleness; passiveness.

WordNet
inactivity
  1. n. the state of being inactive [syn: inaction, inactiveness] [ant: action, action, action]

  2. a disposition to remain inactive or inert; "he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work" [syn: inactiveness, inertia] [ant: activeness]

  3. being inactive; being less active [ant: activity]

Usage examples of "inactivity".

She knew the necessity of employment, being well aware of the danger attending inactivity and indolence.

At length the dreariness of an ended tale was about him, and he felt the inactivity to which he had been compelled all day no longer tolerable.

House of Representatives, arose, like the burning bush at the foot of Mount Horeb, and his stentorian voice poured forth such a torrent of denunciation on priest-craft, such a flood of solid swearing against the insolence and tyranny of ecclesiasticism, that people were surprised into inactivity, until Mr.

By the time I enplaned for Dallas I would have devoutly joined a snow-seeding expedition for another three days of enforced inactivity .

The cold weather resulted in much sickness among the soldiers, however, and Gys found during this period of military inactivity that his medicine chest was more in demand than his case of surgical instruments.

Cilean were weak after so many days of inactivity and little food, so that they removed lentamente the bags that were inside the four cars and piled up them inside of a long stone building.

The return of the nasty sprite had poignantly reminded him of the dangers in the region, and with the continuing inactivity in the farmyard, a fear budded within him, took root, and quickly grew into a sense of dread.

When I discovered that Nathan Bedlam had gone ahead and used the spell, I was revoltedas much by my inactivity as I was by his use and the fact that we Dragon Kings had forced him into it.

The inactivity of a conqueror betrays the loss of strength and blood, and the most cruel execution is inflicted, not in the ranks of battle, but on the backs of a flying enemy.

If they stickle for proof and cavil on the ninth part of a hair, as they do when we bring forward what we deem excellent instances of the transmission of an acquired characteristic, why may not we, too, demand at any rate some evidence that the unmodified beetles actually did always, or nearly always, get blown out to sea, during the reduction above referred to, and that it is to this fact, and not to the masterly inactivity of their fathers and mothers, that the Madeira beetles owe their winglessness?

The wheel moved a fingerbreadth, then a fingerbreadth more, with a shriek of metal forced into motion after aeons of inactivity.

At thirteen he suffered a severe case of osteomyelitis in his leg, and enforced inactivity gave him time to think.

Ashmael said scathingly that the only reason Thiede had ordered it to be built was that he needed an excuse to keep Gelaming personnel in Megalithica and was becoming tired of their impatience over their inactivity.

His comparative inactivity amongst his schoolfellows, though occasioned by no dulness of intellect, might have suggested the necessity of a quiet life, if inclination and liking had been the arbiters in the choice.

The return of the nasty sprite had poignantly reminded him of the dangers in the region, and with the continuing inactivity in the farmyard, a fear budded within him, took root, and quickly grew into a sense of dread.