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/ɪnˈərʃə/ Listen

noun

Inertia n.

(Physics) That property of matter by which it tends when at rest to remain so, and when in motion to continue in motion, and in the same straight line or direction, unless acted on by some external force; sometimes called vis inertiae. The inertia of a body is proportional to its mass.

Inertness; indisposition to motion, exertion, or action; lack of energy; sluggishness. "Men... have immense irresolution and inertia."

(Med.) Lack of activity; sluggishness; said especially of the uterus, when, in labor, its contractions have nearly or wholly ceased.

Center of inertia. (Mech.) See under Center.

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Etymology of 'Inertia'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inertia" Quotes from Famous Books

... first probings into space more than a century before, rather than the fat ovoids he was used to. But there were no signs of rocket exhausts, and yet the ship was very obviously slowing, so it must have an inertia drive. ...

— Anything You Can Do ... • Gordon Randall Garrett

... sank wearily back and closed his eyes. The lately-acquired strength proved often a deserter when it was tested, and for the moment the sick man felt all the depression and inertia of the past. He felt, and that was his only gain. Before, he had been too indifferent to feel ...

— Joyce of the North Woods • Harriet T. Comstock

... carried on by the inertia of their old occupations and doing their best with an enterprise that had suddenly become altogether extraordinary and irrational. They worked amidst questionings, and yet light-heartedly. At every stage there must have been interruptions ...

— In the Days of the Comet • H. G. Wells

... to find a decent plan for the future, we'll have to take inertia into consideration. Mental inertia for one. Just because you know a thing is true in theory, doesn't make it true in fact. The barbaric religions of primitive worlds hold not a germ of scientific fact, though they claim to explain all. Yet ...

— Deathworld • Harry Harrison

... vehemence of this question, the shrill note of reproach in Hannah's voice that revealed, even more than the terrible inertia from which she had emerged, the extent of her suffering, for the instant left Janet utterly dismayed. "Oh mother!" she ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

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