languor

American  

[lang-ger] / ˈlæŋ gər /

noun

• languors
  plural

1. lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.

2. lack of spirit or interest; listlessness; stagnation.

3. physical weakness or faintness.

4. emotional softness or tenderness.

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languor British  

/ ˈlæŋɡə /

noun

1. physical or mental laziness or weariness

2. a feeling of dreaminess and relaxation

3. oppressive silence or stillness

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• languors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of languor

1250–1300; < Latin ( see languish, -or ¹); replacing Middle English langour sickness, woe < Old French < Latin

Explanation

When you are sick or heartbroken and too tired to get out of bed, the listlessness you feel is called languor. It's sluggishness and slowness, but usually with cause. The more commonly used word languish is closely related to languor. If you are languishing or becoming weaker, you are showing languor. Remember that languor implies a heaviness or slowness where there should be lightness or speed. There is no time for languor if you have an exam tomorrow, and you are just beginning to study now. And, a 100 degree day with 70% humidity can inspire languor in just about anyone.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

languor languors

First published in Korea in 2015 and recently translated into English by Frances Cha, “Watermelon Pool” unfolds with all the languor of a long summer day.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

But despite reminding those who mention the Jedi and its protocols that the Order no longer exists, this Ahsoka certainly behaves like one to the point of almost verging into languor.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2023

The only thing vaguely French about it was the languor; never in my life have I spent so many consecutive hours lying down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2022

But despite this relative languor, apes rarely develop the kinds of disorders tied to inactivity in humans, such as heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2022

The sensation, as always, was pleasant and induced in him a warm languor, like the feeling he got after sitting too long in front of a hot stove.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

And with this final season coming in two eight-episode tranches, I’m hopeful that we won’t have to worry about the show getting lost in its own languors this time around.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2012

They meet again nearly two decades later amid the summer languors of the Riviera.

From Time Magazine Archive

Disregarding the roses and raptures of vice, she paints, with a small brush dipt in gilt, the lilies and languors of virtue.

From Time Magazine Archive

Alas, Stern makes a better case for the middle-aged languors of Cambridge than for the pleasures of Cynthia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like pensive herds at rest upon the sands, These to the sea-horizons turn their eyes; Out of their folded feet and clinging hands Bitter sharp tremblings and soft languors rise.

From The Poems and Prose Poems of Charles Baudelaire with an Introductory Preface by James Huneker by Charles Baudelaire

Related Words

• inactivity
• tiredness