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Languid

Languid*ly

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languidly

languidness

Languish

Languished

Languisher

languishes

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

lan·guish·ing

Audio Help [lang-gwi-shing] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	becoming languid, in any way.

2.	expressive of languor; indicating tender, sentimental melancholy: a languishing sigh.

3.	lingering: a languishing death.

[Origin: 1300–50; ME; see languish, -ing²

]

—Related forms

lan·guish·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Languishing

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lan·guish Audio Help (lāng'gwĭsh) Pronunciation Key
intr.v. lan·guished, lan·guish·ing, lan·guish·es

To be or become weak or feeble; lose strength or vigor.
To exist or continue in miserable or disheartening conditions: languished away in prison.
To remain unattended or be neglected: legislation that continued to languish in committee.
To become downcast or pine away in longing: languish apart from friends and family; languish for a change from dull routine.
To affect a wistful or languid air, especially in order to gain sympathy.

[Middle English languishen, from Old French languir, languiss-, from Latin languēre, to be languid; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.]

lan'guish·er n., lan'guish·ing·ly adv., lan'guish·ment n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Languishing

Lan"guish\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Languished; p. pr. & vb. n. Languishing.] [OE. languishen, languissen, F. languir, L. languere; cf. Gr. ? to slacken, ? slack, Icel. lakra to lag behind; prob. akin to E. lag, lax, and perh. to E. slack.See -ish.]

1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade.

We . . . do languish of such diseases. --2 Esdras viii. 31.

Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me landguish into life. --Pope.

For the fields of Heshbon languish. --Is. xvi. 8.

2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. --Tennyson.

Syn: To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint.

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