velleity

/vɛˈliː.ɪ.ti/

Etymology

From Medieval Latin velleitās, from Latin velle (“wish, will”).

Why this word is great

VELLEITY — [Noun] A slight wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action. From Medieval Latin velleitās, from Latin velle ("wish, will"). Unlike "volition" (which marshals action) or "yearning" (which aches with unmet longing), velleity is the ghost of desire—barely felt, barely acknowledged. It is the half-formed thought of calling an old friend while the phone stays in your pocket, the flicker of ambition to learn the piano as your fingers rest inert on the keys, the book bought and never read. A velleity is the shadow of a choice, so faint it barely disturbs the air.

noun

The lowest degree of desire or volition; a total lack of effort to act.“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 consci”
A slight wish not followed by any effort to obtain.“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.”