languor
Americannoun
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lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.
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lack of spirit or interest; listlessness; stagnation.
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physical weakness or faintness.
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emotional softness or tenderness.
noun
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physical or mental laziness or weariness
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a feeling of dreaminess and relaxation
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oppressive silence or stillness
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.
Vocabulary lists containing languor
100 SAT Words Beginning with "J," "K," and "L"
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Pride and Prejudice
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The Awakening
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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.
For the first time, I could picture the legendary tropical city of Malayan sampans, Chinese street hawkers and British colonial languor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
The book’s languor can be ponderous and vintage, more 20th century than 21st.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2025
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
Not coincidentally pro football only took off as a national sport during the late ’50s and ’60s when it embraced television, which marketed football’s brutality as a counterweight to baseball’s languor.
From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2023
But then I remember that brief moment in the sun, the power of startling that deer, the delicious languor from a full belly, and it’s like the choice was made before we even started barking.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
