Skip to main content
lifelessness

lifelessness

1 5.4
A lack of life, energy, or movement
  • noun
  • /ˈlaɪfˌlɛs.nəs/
translation icon : inanimación
  • What was so recently experienced as a vibrant and highly structured community once more descends into a state of lifelessness when viewed through the eyes of an outsider.

Examples

  • After the storm, the once vibrant landscape was reduced to lifelessness, devoid of color and movement.

  • The abandoned house had an eerie lifelessness, with broken windows and decaying walls.

  • The falling figure had the lifelessness of a rag doll.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Just as it began, a bare rock without any vegetation or human presence, Hashima has gone back to lifelessness.

    Blog text (22)
  • She frequently stared at the imprecise gray and black images of herself in the morning paper and felt horrified at her own lifelessness.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • With almost everyone dressed in drab, uninteresting clothes that rival the uniforms of Maoist China for their homogeneity and lifelessness.

    Blog text (31)
  • His voice carried a sense of lifelessness, reflecting his fatigue and lack of enthusiasm.

Synonyms

inactivity
vslifelessness
12 3.5

A period of time with no movement or action

is the wider lack of life, energy, and vitality beyond mere lack of movement
bleakness
vslifelessness
3 6.3

A cold, empty feeling that makes a place or situation seem sad

focuses on lacking energy and movement rather than bleak atmosphere
listlessness
vslifelessness
2 6.8

A feeling of little energy and no interest

focuses more on overall absence of life and motion rather than mood alone
deadness
vslifelessness
1 5.3

A state of no life or energy that makes a person feel empty

is a broader state of low energy and movement rather than simply absence of life
soullessness
vslifelessness
1 7.7

A feeling of cold emptiness and lack of human warmth

is more about empty vitality and stillness than cold lack of feeling
dreariness
vslifelessness
1 6.2

A dull, gloomy feeling that makes things seem not interesting

is the simple lack of life or movement rather than moodiness
dullness
vslifelessness
1 3.4

A feeling of low emotion and little interest

emphasizes lack of life and movement rather than emotional unresponsiveness
vapidity
vslifelessness
1 9.3

A lack of energy and interest in speech or writing

stresses physical or energetic absence of life, not only blandness
inanimateness
vslifelessness
9.8

Lack of life or movement in things

is the general lack of energy or vitality, not only biological nonliving
pulselessness
vslifelessness
  • Literature
8.8

Lack of energy and life in a speech or performance

is the overall lack of life and movement, not only figurative dullness
spiritlessness
vslifelessness
8.2

A lack of energy and interest that makes a person feel tired and low

covers broader lack of life and movement beyond mere low enthusiasm
desolateness
vslifelessness
7.5

A feeling of being very lonely and empty after loss

is the general absence of life and vitality rather than solitude
motionlessness
vslifelessness
6.0

A time when a person or thing is completely still

includes lack of movement but also missing life and energy broadly
vacantness
vslifelessness
6.6

A blank look that shows no clear thought or feeling

is broader, covering physical and energetic absence not only empty expression
deathliness
vslifelessness
9.1

A feeling or look that makes a place seem empty and lifeless

is the general lack of life or energy, not only a deathlike look

Antonyms

16 4.6

Ability of a living thing to survive and grow

How Lively

vitality
16 4.6
lifelessness
1 5.4
dullness
1 3.4

Surface Forms

lifelessness singular

Morphology

lifelessness = lifeless (transparent) = life + less + ness

Adding the nominalizing suffix '-ness' to the adjective 'lifeless' is a regular derivation yielding 'the state of being without life', which is directly predictable from the base.

Etymology

The word lifelessness is made of life, the part -less meaning 'without', and the part -ness meaning 'state'. So lifelessness is literally 'the state of being without life', which explains why we use it for things with no energy, movement, or spirit.