INDISPOSITION

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does indisposition mean? 

• INDISPOSITION (noun)
  The noun INDISPOSITION has 2 senses:

1. a slight illness

2. a certain degree of unwillingness

  Familiarity information: INDISPOSITION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDISPOSITION (noun)

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A certain degree of unwillingness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

disinclination; hesitancy; hesitation; indisposition; reluctance

Context example:

after some hesitation he agreed

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)

 Context examples 

Grant, professing an indisposition, for which he had little credit with his fair sister-in-law, could not spare his wife.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She began not to understand a word they said, and was obliged to plead indisposition and excuse herself.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Nothing but real indisposition could occasion this extraordinary delay.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

This argument had some share in quieting my mother, though her increasing indisposition had a larger one.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The bride, who had fortunately entered the house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and retired to her room.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had an unhappy state of health in general for the child of such a man, for she hardly knew what indisposition was; and if he did not invent illnesses for her, she could make no figure in a message.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

During my confinement for want of clothes, and by an indisposition that held me some days longer, I much enlarged my dictionary; and when I went next to court, was able to understand many things the king spoke, and to return him some kind of answers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The state of her spirits had probably had its share in her indisposition; for she had been feeling neglected, and been struggling against discontent and envy for some days past.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

One day when Mr. Creakle kept the house from indisposition, which naturally diffused a lively joy through the school, there was a good deal of noise in the course of the morning's work.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

While well, and happy, and properly attended to, she had great good humour and excellent spirits; but any indisposition sunk her completely.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)