Inertia

inertia |iˈnər sh ə|noun1 a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged : the bureaucraticinertia of government.2 Physics a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force. See also moment of inertia .• [with adj. ] resistance to change in some other physical property :the thermal inertia of the oceans will delay the full rise in temperature for a few decades.DERIVATIVESinertialess |1ˈnərʃələs| adjectiveORIGIN early 18th cent. (sense 2) : from Latin, from iners, inert- (seeinert ).