languish

[ lang-gwish ]

/ ˈlæŋ gwɪʃ /

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See synonyms for: languish / languished / languishes / languishing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade.

to lose vigor and vitality.

to undergo neglect or experience prolonged inactivity; suffer hardship and distress: to languish in prison for ten years.

to be subjected to delay or disregard; be ignored: a petition that languished on the warden's desk for a year.

to pine with desire or longing.

to assume an expression of tender, sentimental melancholy.

noun

the act or state of languishing.

a tender, melancholy look or expression.

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Origin of languish

1250–1300; Middle English <Middle French languiss-, long stem of languir ≪ Latin languēre to languish; akin to laxuslax; see -ish²

OTHER WORDS FROM languish

lan·guish·er, noun

Words nearby languish

langue d'oïl, languet, languette, languid, languidly, languish, languishing, languishment, languor, languorous, langur

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use languish in a sentence

Other journalists and opposition activists languish in prison on similar charges.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015|Movements.Org|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Common sense, uncontroversial ideas tend to languish when attention has moved elsewhere.
Dear GOP: Fix the Damn Justice System!|Jonathan Alter|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Some of the authors most revered by their contemporaries now languish in relative obscurity.
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Critical journalists continue to languish in prison and inside the courtrooms the breadth of the clampdown is on full display.
Egypt Prepares to Anoint a Dictator and Call it an Election|Jesse Rosenfeld|May 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST

They see people just like them being elevated quickly to power while they languish, and they become envious.
What’s At Stake In The Tocqueville/Piketty Debate|James Poulos|April 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If one could languish through life in the shell of a mere beauty that life would be a good deal simpler proposition than it is.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
If a man be poor who wishes to have everything, then an ambitious and a miserly man languish in extreme poverty.
The 'Characters' of Jean de La Bruyre|Jean de La Bruyre
You who will not wish to see her languish—suffer—go mad—Thomas, I am not the raving being you take me for.
The Circular Study|Anna Katharine Green
Their kings are without power and without glory; their subjects languish in indigence and wretchedness.
Letters To Eugenia|Paul Henri Thiry Holbach
She would be left to languish and die in some awful Moorish prison.
Fifty-Two Stories For Girls|Various

British Dictionary definitions for languish

languish

/ (ˈlæŋɡwɪʃ) /

verb (intr)

to lose or diminish in strength or energy

(often foll by for) to be listless with desire; pine

to suffer deprivation, hardship, or neglectto languish in prison

to put on a tender, nostalgic, or melancholic expression

Derived forms of languish

languishing, adjectivelanguishingly, adverblanguishment, noun

Word Origin for languish

C14 languishen, from Old French languiss-, stem of languir, ultimately from Latin languēre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

languish

Origin of languish

OTHER WORDS FROM languish

Words nearby languish

Words related to languish

How to use languish in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for languish

Derived forms of languish

Word Origin for languish