languish
to be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade: Whether the plant thrives or languishes and dies is heavily dependent on the climate.
to lose vigor and vitality: Though she was once full of energy, her illness had caused her to languish.
to undergo neglect or experience prolonged inactivity; suffer hardship and distress: to languish in prison for ten years.
to be subjected to delay or disregard; be ignored: a petition that languished on the warden's desk for a year.
to pine with desire or longing.
to assume an expression of tender, sentimental melancholy.
Archaic. the act or state of being neglected, losing vigor, or becoming weak.
Archaic. a tender, melancholy look or expression.
Origin of languish
1Other words from languish
- lan·guish·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use languish in a sentence
Meanwhile, a proposal to raise the minimum wage to a little more than $10 an hour languishes in Congress.
It languishes on what is known as the gray list overseen by the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body.
For now the Italian tribal arts dealer languishes in the town's Mpimba prison.
At 3648, the NASDAQ still languishes about 25 percent below its all-time high.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Finally Out After a 13-Year Reign | Daniel Gross | August 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTNor is it happening now, as corporate profits soar and full-time job creation languishes.
Our Tax Code is Too Complicated. Here's How to Simplify It. | Megan McArdle | April 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The public ear has become dainty, fastidious, hypercritical; hence the Ballad-Singer languishes and dies.
The History of the Catnach Press | Charles HindleyHe languishes in an unchanging environment and finds monotony almost unbearable.
How to Analyze People on Sight | Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine BenedictIt is the Osseous or one who is largely of this type who languishes in prison through long years, refusing to retract.
How to Analyze People on Sight | Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine BenedictAh, how desolate sounds the drip, drip of a ceaseless rain, when conversation languishes and the ear has time to listen!
The Sword of Damocles | Anna Katharine GreenThis obstinacy in right proportion constitutes will, and without will life languishes and projects die a-borning.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13 | Elbert Hubbard
British Dictionary definitions for languish
/ (ˈlæŋɡwɪʃ) /
to lose or diminish in strength or energy
(often foll by for) to be listless with desire; pine
to suffer deprivation, hardship, or neglect: to languish in prison
to put on a tender, nostalgic, or melancholic expression
Origin of languish
1Derived forms of languish
- languishing, adjective
- languishingly, adverb
- languishment, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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