acrasia means lack of self-control; excess, intemperance; also, irregular or unruly behaviour. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
acrasia is pronounced /əˈkɹeɪ.zɪ.ə/.
Why “acrasia” is a great word
ACRASIA — [Noun] The state of acting against one's better judgment due to a failure of self-control. From the Ancient Greek ἀκρασία (akrasía, "bad mixture, lack of self-control"), from ἀ- (a-, "not") + κράτος (krátos, "power, strength"). Unlike enkrateia (its direct philosophical opposite, the state of self-mastery) or intemperance (which broadly denotes excess), acrasia is the precise, painful dissonance of the will divided. It is the hand reaching for the third drink while the mind chides, the snooze button struck in full knowledge of the missed train, and the stinging, silent rebuke of the abandoned gym bag by the door—the quiet tragedy of a self both traitor and betrayed.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Late Latin acrasia (“lack of temperance”), and from its etymon Ancient Greek ᾰ̓κρᾱσῐ́ᾱ (ăkrāsĭ́ā, “bad mixture”), from ἄκρᾱτος (ákrātos, “pure, unmixed; of a person: intemperate, violent”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ἄκρᾱτος (Ákrātos) is derived from ᾰ̓- (ă-, prefix forming terms having a sense opposite to the stems or words to which it is attached) + κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to blend, mix; to cool or temper by mixing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming adjectives). Doublet of acrasy.
noun
- Lack of self-control; excess, intemperance; also, irregular or unruly behaviour.“Him fortuned (hard fortune ye may gheſſe) / To come, vvhere vile Acraſia does vvonne [live], / Acraſia a falſe enchauntereſſe, / That many errant knightes hath fovvle fordonne: […]”