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inertia Definition

in·er·tia (in ʉr′s̸hə, -s̸hē ə)

noun

  1. Physics the tendency of matter to remain at rest if at rest, or, if moving, to keep moving in the same direction, unless affected by some outside force
  2. a tendency to remain in a fixed condition without change; disinclination to move or act

Etymology: L, lack of art or skill, ignorance < iners: see inert

inertia Related Forms
in·er′·tial adjective
inertia Synonyms

inertia

n.

passivity, indolence, inactivity; see laziness.

inertia Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • body: Any solid body also has an " angular mass " , which is properly called the moment of inertia of the body.

Converse of object

  • overcome: Throughout the early 1930s the Labor left constantly tried to overcome the inertia of the trade union leaders.
  • reduce: One way to improve turbo lag is to reduce the inertia of the rotating parts, mainly by reducing their weight.
  • increase: Increasing the inertia or lowering the torsional stiffness results in a lower resonant frequency.

Adjective modifier

  • bureaucratic: Bill gave COAST lots of advice on how to tackle government & bureaucratic inertia, which we will now use.
  • organizational: Make Training Evaluation Work is a book designed to break through this organizational inertia.
  • thermal: For example, poor thermal inertia could be due to a poorly packed frost layer.
  • rotational: This added weight creates more rotational inertia, which in turn enables the disk to spin with more constant torque.
  • institutional: Institutional inertia is now likely to be extremely high.
  • organizational: The reason is simple: financial and productivity benefits do not outweigh organizational inertia.

Modifies a noun

  • reel: Lap belt, inertia reel belt or fixed harness with two shoulder straps.
  • belt: Lap belt, inertia reel belt or fixed harness with two shoulder straps.
  • load: A high inertia load is on a primary cylinder.
  • block: The trigger a manual design, not the more common inertia block system will win few prizes.
  • force: Like a black hole neutron star, the end product of a twin system collapsed in upon itself under colossal inertia forces.
  • effect: A special attention is accorded to the analysis of inertia effects which are significant at high loading rates.

Noun used with modifier

  • steering: Braking response and feel are outstanding, and a very lightweight, six-spoke cast aluminum wheel reduces unsprung weight and steering inertia.
  • sleep: They had also spent several hours each day practicing the maths test used to quantify sleep inertia.
  • customer: Ian Mullen, BBA Chief Executive, said: " The current complex pensions ' structure fuels customer inertia.
  • government: Britain's workers demand the right to smoke-free workplaces: Government inertia hits two year mark.