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INDISPOSITION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A certain degree of unwillingness
Example:
after some hesitation he agreed
Synonyms:
disinclination; hesitancy; hesitation; indisposition; reluctance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("indisposition" is a kind of...):
involuntariness; unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "indisposition"):
sloth; slothfulness (a disinclination to work or exert yourself)
Derivation:
indispose (make unwilling)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A slight illness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("indisposition" is a kind of...):
illness; malady; sickness; unwellness (impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism)
Derivation:
indispose (cause to feel unwell)
Context examples:
She was calm, except when she thought of her mother; but she was almost hopeless; and in this state she continued till noon, scarcely stirring from her sister's bed, her thoughts wandering from one image of grief, one suffering friend to another, and her spirits oppressed to the utmost by the conversation of Mrs. Jennings, who scrupled not to attribute the severity and danger of this attack to the many weeks of previous indisposition which Marianne's disappointment had brought on.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Emma felt that her own note had deserved something better; but it was impossible to quarrel with words, whose tremulous inequality shewed indisposition so plainly, and she thought only of how she might best counteract this unwillingness to be seen or assisted.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
And I hope you will not be cruelly concealing any tendency to indisposition.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
It is really, returned my host, quite a coincidence, that Traddles should be here at all: as Traddles was only invited this morning, when the place at table, intended to be occupied by Mrs. Henry Spiker's brother, became vacant, in consequence of his indisposition.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A dinner at Mr Musgrove's had been the occasion when all these things should have been seen by Anne; but she had staid at home, under the mixed plea of a headache of her own, and some return of indisposition in little Charles.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Elinor, confirmed in every pleasant hope, was all cheerfulness; rejoicing that in her letters to her mother, she had pursued her own judgment rather than her friend's, in making very light of the indisposition which delayed them at Cleveland; and almost fixing on the time when Marianne would be able to travel.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
A few minutes more spent in the same kind of effusion, concluded his visit; and with repeated assurances to his sisters that he really believed there was no material danger in Fanny's indisposition, and that they need not therefore be very uneasy about it, he went away; leaving the three ladies unanimous in their sentiments on the present occasion, as far at least as it regarded Mrs. Ferrars's conduct, the Dashwoods', and Edward's.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
So upon that, he smirked, and simpered, and looked grave, and seemed to know something or other, and at last he said in a whisper, 'For fear any unpleasant report should reach the young ladies under your care as to their sister's indisposition, I think it advisable to say, that I believe there is no great reason for alarm; I hope Mrs. Dashwood will do very well.'
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
It was now above a week since John Dashwood had called in Berkeley Street, and as since that time no notice had been taken by them of his wife's indisposition, beyond one verbal enquiry, Elinor began to feel it necessary to pay her a visit.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
They were engaged about the end of that time to attend Lady Middleton to a party, from which Mrs. Jennings was kept away by the indisposition of her youngest daughter; and for this party, Marianne, wholly dispirited, careless of her appearance, and seeming equally indifferent whether she went or staid, prepared, without one look of hope or one expression of pleasure.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
