Ap'a-thy, n.

n. [Fr. apathie, Lat. apathia, Gr. ἀπάθεια, from ἀ priv. and πάθος, from παθεῖν, πάσχειν, to suffer.] Want, or a low degree, of feeling; privation of passion, or insensibility to pain;—applied either to the body or the mind. As applied to the mind, it is stoicism, a calmness of mind incapable of being ruffled by pleasure, pain, or passion.

According to the Stoics, apathy meant the extinction of the passions by the ascendancy of reason. Fleming.

In the first ages of the church, the Christians adopted the term to express a contempt of earthly concerns.

Synonyms—Insensibility; unfeelingness; indifference; unconcern.