dolce far niente love

dolce far niente


from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • n. Sweet idleness; pleasing inactivity.


  • n. carefree idleness


Sorry, no etymologies found.


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  • bilby is right, in Italian it's used to describe the act of doing nothing - in a positive (or, less often, slightly ironic) way. It's often used when describing a break from a hard job.
    Dopo gli esami, mi sto finalmente godendo un po' di dolce far niente.
    ("After my exams, I'm finally enjoying some dolce far niente").

    June 6, 2008

  • Also the act of (not) doing it. In fact I've heard it only used in this sense. eg. Goldoni passo' anni nel dolce far niente. Which is probably not true, sorry Carlo!

    June 6, 2008

  • Literally means "sweet do nothing". A person who doesn't need to work or doesn't do anything useful, either from soft indolence, apathy, negligence or just a high quality standard for wasting time and making an art of it. (Wiktionary)

    June 6, 2008