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Sunday July 25, 1999

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listless \LIST-lis\ , adjective:
Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless.
--LISTLESSLY, adverb -- LISTLESSNESS, noun

I was listless, and desponding.
-- Swift

If you appear downcast or depressed, or are unresponsive to the interviewer's questions or listless in your approach, you will rule yourself out of consideration for that job.
-- "Good first impressions vital in interviews", Chicago Sun-Times, May 2, 1999

He [Chrétien] hasn't suddenly become inarticulate, listless and unfit to govern, as some commentators are suggesting."
-- "Chrétien's slump", Toronto Star, November 4, 1998

Later his frustration deepened, and in the middle of a listless poetry reading in Moscow, he growled at Franklin Reeve, his American interpreter, 'What the hell am I going to do here anyway if I don't get to see Khrushchev?'
-- "Robert Frost's Last Adventure", New York Times, June 11, 1972

Listless is from Middle English listles, from liste (see entry for list), desire + -les, -less.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for listless

 

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