nadlenosti

Nadlenosti is a Slavic lexical item that appears in several South‑East European languages, most notably in Croatian, Serbian and Slovene, where it is used as the plural form of nadlenost. The word is derived from the prefix nad‑ “above, over” combined with the root len‑, related to “leniency” or “softness,” and the suffix ‑ost, which forms abstract nouns. Consequently, nadlenosti conveys the idea of “excesses of leniency” or “over‑indulgent attitudes,” and is employed to describe behaviours or policies that are considered overly permissive or lacking sufficient rigor.

In linguistic usage nadlenosti functions as a noun and is typically found in literary, journalistic and academic contexts. It is often contrasted with terms such as strogost (strictness) or disciplina (discipline) to highlight a perceived imbalance in authority, governance or personal conduct. The concept has been discussed in sociological studies of post‑communist societies, where analysts have linked periods of rapid liberalisation with a rise in nadlenosti in regulatory frameworks, public administration and educational institutions.

Culturally, the term appears in folklore and proverbs that caution against the dangers of excessive softness, for example in the Slovene saying “kadar je preveč nadlenosti, trpi dom,” meaning “when there is too much leniency, the household suffers.” In modern media, nadlenosti is sometimes employed in political commentary to criticize policies perceived as lenient toward crime, corruption or economic deregulation. While the word retains its core meaning across languages, regional nuances influence its connotations, ranging from a mild critique of indulgence to a more severe accusation of neglectful governance.