Meaning of Velleity | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The lowest degree of desire or volition; a total lack of effort to act.
   countable, uncountable
2. A slight wish not followed by any effort to obtain.
   countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Rousseau showed through life a singular proneness for being convinced by his own⟳ eloquence; he was always his own⟳ first convert; and this reconciles his power as a writer with his weakness as a man. He and all like⟳ him mistake⟳ emotion for conviction, velleity for resolve⟳, the brief eddy of sentiment for the midcurrent of ever-gathering faith in duty that draws to itself all the affluents of conscience and will, and gives continuity and purpose to life.”

“This connoisseuse of “splendid weaknesses”, run⟳ not by any lust or even velleity but by vacuum: by the absence of human hope⟳.”

“All were born late enough to breathe⟳ the atmosphere of the new poetry young; all had poetical velleities, and a certain amount, if not of originality, of capacity to write⟳ poetry. But they were not poets; they were only poetical curiosities.”

“—And so the conversation slips / Among velleities and carefully caught regrets / Through attenuated tones of violins / Mingled with remote cornets / And begins.”

“The debate⟳ in the House of Lords would convert the impartial listener from any velleity towards single-chamber government.”

“The difficulty of getting here prevented people from coming on a velleity.”

“Who could have⟳ imagined then, in Crumpsall, that the ancient Jewish hope⟳, ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ – for so long more a velleity than a hope⟳, the feeblest and most unanticipated of anticipations – would be realised in their lifetime and that they would be able to stand⟳ here, under the watchful eye of Israeli soldiers, but otherwise unimpeded, together?”

CEFR level