Meanings
- alternativeuncountableAlternative spelling of la belle indifference.
As such this term is close in meaning to what Jung has referred to as "euphoric apathy" or la belle indifférence, usually in connection with hysterical manifestations but here mainly in reference to the gods.
1980, Frederick Busi, The Transformations of Godot, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, pages 56–572 more examples
Most of us have heard of la belle indifférence of the French neurologists. This term attempts to convey the beautiful calm of those hysterics who have achieved their ambition to avoid responsibility by inducing in themselves a state of resistless torpor and the reputation for chronic invalidism bravely borne.
1942, Arthur Guirdham, Disease and the Social System, READ BOOKS, published 2007, →ISBN, page 62It is understood that some of the schemes have equilibrated in a way such that two, three, or more mutually exclusive opinions coexist within one patient (or even personality); the situation becomes more perplexing to the therapist when she realizes that rather than approaching this circumstance with appropriate circumspection and confusion, the incest victim may respond with a degree of la belle indifférence to the illogical coexistence of contradictory alternatives.
1990, Catherine G. Fine, “The Cognitive Sequelae of Incest,”, in Incest-related Syndromes of Adult Psychopathology, Ed. Richard P. Kluft, American Psychiatric Pub, →ISBN, page 178
Origin
From French la + belle + indifférence.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
la belle indifférence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/la%20belle%20indiff%C3%A9rence
“la belle indifférence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/la%20belle%20indiff%C3%A9rence. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “la belle indifférence,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/la%20belle%20indiff%C3%A9rence.
Source: la belle indifférence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.