stagnate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
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to be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
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to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.
My mind is stagnating from too much TV.
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to be or become sluggish and dull.
When the leading lady left, the show started to stagnate.
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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
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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.
As I have written elsewhere, this was the pivotal decade when American culture began to stagnate.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026
While the Premier League clubs benefit from ever-increasing TV deals and other European leagues attract heavy investment, Serie A has seen that source of revenue stagnate.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
Wage growth is concentrated at the top, while median wages stagnate.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 18, 2026
Investors were already worrying that sales growth could stagnate because stubborn inflation and job-market uncertainty has made Americans less willing to dip into their pockets.
From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026
Without standardized materials and methods, they worried that the field of tissue culture would stagnate.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
