zestless

English

Etymology

zest +‎ -less

Adjective

zestless (comparative more zestless, superlative most zestless)

1. Lacking zest; passionless, unenthusiastic.
   • 1792, Robert Sadler, Wanley Penson, or The Melancholy Man, London: C. & G. Kearsley, Volume 3, p. 252,^[1]

     There are moments, indeed, in which I could be pleased to repay even a zestless joke with a smile, and, to feed the cheerfulness of a companion, rummage my own recollection for a mirthful incident; but, alas! ’tis not so now—My soul is too much absorbed in its own gloomy ruminations, to be drawn forth by its accustomed urbanity […]

   • 1865, Charles Heavysege, Jephthah’s Daughter, Montreal: Dawson Brothers, IV, (unpaginated),^[2]

     […] So he passes

     To second childhood; but, as quickening gases,

     Being fled, leave zestless a once cheering draught,

     We grow not merry though the Dotard laughed.

   • 1941, James Hilton, Random Harvest‎^[3], Boston: Little, Brown & Co., Part Four, p. 249:

     As he descended the stairs he felt calmer, readier to do battle with the forces arrayed against him; and that made him feel a little warm towards the weak healthy boy who never did battle at all, but just drank and debauched himself in a bored, zestless way.

   • c. 1956, Martin Luther King Jr., sermon delivered at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott, cited in Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulder, CO: Blue Mountain Press, p. 81,^[4]

     Courageous men never lose the zest for living even though their life situation is zestless; cowardly men, overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, lose the will to live.

Derived terms

• zestlessly
• zestlessness