nolition

/nəʊˈlɪʃən/

Etymology

Latin nōlō (“not to will, to be unwilling”), patterned after volition from Latin volō.

Why this word is great

NOLITION — [Noun] The absence of desire or will to act; a passive unwillingness. From Latin nōlō ("not to will, to be unwilling"), patterned after volition from Latin volō ("to will"). Unlike "aversion" (which suggests active distaste) or "reluctance" (which implies resistance born of fear or doubt), nolition is the quiet void where motivation ought to be. It is the untouched book gathering dust on the nightstand, the unanswered letter left to yellow in a drawer, the half-formed thought that dissolves before it can become intention—a stillness so complete it feels less like refusal than like absence itself.

noun

unwillingness.“[S]o long as the prayer is fervent, so long the man hath a nolition, and a direct enmity against the lust; he consents not all that while; but when the month is gone, and the prayer is removed, or becomes less active, then the temptation returns, and forages, and prevails, and seizes upon all our unguarded strengths.”