- present participle of languish.
languishing
Americanadjective
-
becoming languid, in any way.
-
expressive of languor; indicating tender, sentimental melancholy.
a languishing sigh.
-
lingering.
a languishing death.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of languishing
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at languish, -ing 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2025, SoftBank bought a 2% stake for $2 billion while the chip maker was in trouble and its shares were languishing at $23.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Kent debuted on the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America Hall of Fame ballot five years later, languishing there for 10 consecutive seasons without coming close to the 75% threshold necessary to be elected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Many exist only in manuscript form, languishing in the vaults of some library or monastery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
After languishing in development hell under Stanley Kubrick for two decades, the notoriously intense auteur deferred the project to Spielberg, believing he would be the right fit to tell such a complex yet tender story.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
So many of my people today are languishing in refugee camps, belonging to no country, always in limbo.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
