stagnate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
stagnates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stagnated,
past participle, past
-
stagnating
present participle
-
to cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
-
to be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
-
to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.
My mind is stagnating from too much TV.
-
to be or become sluggish and dull.
When the leading lady left, the show started to stagnate.
verb (used with object)
-
stagnates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stagnated,
past participle, past
-
stagnating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
stagnatesimple
-
stagnatessimple
-
have stagnatedperfect
-
has stagnatedperfect
-
am stagnatingprogressive
-
are stagnatingprogressive
-
is stagnatingprogressive
-
have been stagnatingperfect progressive
-
has been stagnatingperfect progressive
Past
-
stagnatedsimple
-
had stagnatedperfect
-
was stagnatingprogressive
-
were stagnatingprogressive
-
had been stagnatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stagnate
1660–70; < Latin stāgnātus (past participle of stāgnāre ), equivalent to stāgn ( um ) pool of standing water + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
If after high school you choose to live in your parents' house, keep the same job, and spend time with the same friends, your mother might worry that you've decided to stagnate, or stop moving forward. When water stagnates, it stops moving and then sometimes begins to smell bad and attract mosquitoes. Think of a marshy pond or an old puddle. Similarly in the figurative sense, when the economy or society stagnates, it doesn't just sit still, it loses momentum. The word carries with it a negative connotation as something that stagnates really should be moving.
Vocabulary lists containing stagnate
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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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.
See Examples For:
“That means once investors make an allocation it is reasonable to see that it will stagnate for a while causing volatility with lower volumes of shares traded,” he said in emailed comments.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Investors believe it will usher in a new era of earnings growth as EV sales stagnate.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
Don Was, musician and producer: In life, as exemplified by music, if you don’t change, you stagnate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
Still, with growth heavily reliant on exports—particularly electronics and AI-related products—analysts warn of an uneven “K-shaped” economy, where the tech sector outperforms while other industries stagnate and consumers face rising costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Their assignment was to stagnate and live in the past.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Today, they’re deeply frustrated with the results as the gaming industry stagnates and consumers face higher prices on everything from memory to storage drives and graphics cards.
From MarketWatch ● May 23, 2026
The result could be a "stagflationary shock of pretty large magnitude" - where inflation goes up and growth stagnates, Arvind Subramanian, India's former chief economic adviser, told India Today TV channel.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026
Last year's emissions cuts were driven by falls in energy-intensive industries, many of which are struggling as the economy stagnates, and record solar power generation.
From Barron's ● Jan. 7, 2026
As growth in pizza sales stagnates, competition between restaurants has intensified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
My blood would have spoiled the drink," replies the joyless man; "it does not flow noble and untroubled like yours; cold and morose it stagnates in me, and will not colour my cheek.
From The Wagnerian Romances by Brownell, Gertrude Hall
Lakeside’s median household income stagnated at $77,435 in the five years ending in 2024, adjusted for inflation, according to the most recent census survey data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
In the last few years, spending from big studios on Hollywood films and TV has stagnated or dropped.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
In 2015, purse sales stagnated because customers grew tired of heavily logoed looks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Other celebrities, including Kris Jenner, Joy Behar, and Cara Delevingne, have also listed properties that stagnated on the market for years.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
As far as he knew, the American program for the Super, the thermonuclear bomb, had stagnated.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But it has struggled to thrive in recent years amid fierce competition from online giants like Amazon, with sales stagnating.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Currently, stocks of hyperscalers at the front end of the AI boom are stagnating with falls in free cash flow, while chips, infrastructure providers and optical networking gain.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
But the Industrial Revolution left average real wages stagnating and the quality of non-wage amenities declining for four decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Some are concerned that AI could worsen what’s called a “K-shaped” economy, in which the rich see growth and most other people struggle with stagnating opportunities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
He did, however, drink water, and the area reeked of urine stagnating in the toilet bowl.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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.
