languid

[ lang-gwid ]

adjective

1. lacking in vigor or vitality; slack or slow:

   a languid manner.

   Synonyms: torpid, sluggish, inert, inactive

   Antonyms: energetic, active

2. lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.

   Synonyms: spiritless

3. drooping or flagging from weakness or fatigue; faint.

   Synonyms: exhausted, weary, feeble, weak

   Antonyms: vigorous

languid

/ ˈlæŋɡwɪd /

adjective

1. without energy or spirit
2. without interest or enthusiasm
3. sluggish; inactive

Derived Forms

• ˈlanguidness, noun
• ˈlanguidly, adverb

Other Words From

• lan·guid·ly adverb
• lan·guid·ness noun
• un·lan·guid adjective
• un·lan·guid·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of languid¹

First recorded in 1590–1600, languid is from the Latin word languidus “faint”; languish, -id ⁴

Word History and Origins

Origin of languid¹

C16: from Latin languidus, from languēre to languish

Example Sentences

Over time, we learn about the epic heartbreak that made Spike the languid drifter he is.

From Time

Her fearlessness is the casual kind, arriving without fanfare or advertisement—languid one minute and ready to leap the next, she’s a master of the slow blink.

From Time

Happier Than Ever retains many of Eilish’s signature sounds—languid ballads, lingering, whispered syllables, dreamy synthesizer pads—while expanding outward into a disparate array of genres and eras.

From Time

When we’d hit the town after a day of languid roasting, we’d roll up as Charles Bronson and Lobsterman.

From Outside Online

It steeps its songs in traditional Ukrainian folk music but spices them with ingredients from around the world, such as raga drones from India, metrical drumming from Japan, and languid blues from America.

From Nautilus

All night long they struggle;  nobody knows the name  of the harsh light that keeps slowly opening  like a languid fruit.

From The Daily Beast

In or out of uniform his motion is languid, his voice relaxed and mellifluous, his movements deliberate, confident.

From The Daily Beast

Just a few days ago, India was in a relaxed, almost languid, state of mind.

From The Daily Beast

He was more finely bred than any American she had met, with his bone-china accent, willowy height and languid wit.

From The Daily Beast

Yes, there is a sense of it being still, even languid in that film.

From The Daily Beast

Maria Theresa held it in her hand, and looked on it a few seconds with a languid smile.

From Project Gutenberg

Richard would fain have moralised and comforted, but she felt as if she knew it all before, and heard with languid attention.

From Project Gutenberg

Only time, he said to Mrs. Ashton—she would be all right in time; the summer heat was making her languid.

From Project Gutenberg

The votaries of fashion and gayety are they to whom existence grows languid and life a burden.

From Project Gutenberg

She raised her languid eyes to her child, but her palsied tongue could speak no word of tenderness.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• lackadaisical
• laid-back
• languorous
• lazy
• leisurely
• lethargic
• sluggish
• unhurried