shiftlessness

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

shiftlessness
    n 1: a failure to be active as a consequence of lack of
         initiative or ambition

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Shiftless \Shift"less\, a.
   Destitute of expedients, or not using successful expedients;
   characterized by failure, especially by failure to provide
   for one's own support, through negligence or incapacity;
   hence, lazy; improvident; thriftless; as, a shiftless fellow;
   shiftless management. -- {Shift"less*ly}, adv. --
   {Shift"less*ness}, n.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

27 Moby Thesaurus words for "shiftlessness":
      dilatoriness, do-nothingness, ergophobia, faineancy, faineantise,
      fecklessness, hastiness, heedlessness, hoboism, improvidence,
      indolence, inertia, inexertion, laggardness, lax stewardship,
      laziness, lotus-eating, negligence, poor husbandry, remissness,
      sloth, slothfulness, slowness, spring fever, thoughtlessness,
      thriftlessness, vagrancy

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