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 ( languish, -or 1 ); replacing Middle English langour sickness, woe < Old French < Latin
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
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
For months, I have not writ, having no paper upon which to write and no matter to record; our days passing in the tedium of routine, the languor of inactivity, and the terrors of disease.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
