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languish
[
lang
-gwish
]
Origin
lan·guish
/
ˈlæŋ
gwɪʃ
/
Show Spelled
[
lang
-gwish
]
Show IPA
verb (used without object)
1.
to be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade.
2.
to lose vigor and vitality.
3.
to undergo neglect or experience prolonged inactivity; suffer hardship and distress:
to languish in prison for ten years.
4.
to be subjected to delay or disregard; be ignored:
a petition that languished on the warden's desk for a year.
5.
to pine with desire or longing.
EXPAND
6.
to assume an
expression
of tender, sentimental
melancholy
.
COLLAPSE
noun
7.
the act or state of
languishing
.
8.
a tender, melancholy look or expression.
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Languish
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is
skedaddle
. Does it mean:
So is
fletcherise
. Does it mean:
So is
kibitz
. Does it mean:
to run away hurriedly; flee.
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
chat, to converse
LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Origin:
1250–1300;
Middle English
<
Middle French
languiss-,
long stem of
languir
≪
Latin
languēre
to languish; akin to
laxus
lax
;
see
-ish
2
Related forms
lan·guish·er,
noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To
languish
Collins
World English Dictionary
languish
(ˈlæŋɡwɪʃ)
—
vb
1.
to lose or diminish in strength or energy
2.
(
often foll by
for
) to be listless with desire; pine
3.
to suffer deprivation, hardship, or neglect:
to languish in prison
4.
to put on a tender, nostalgic, or melancholic expression
[C14
languishen,
from Old French
languiss-,
stem of
languir,
ultimately from Latin
languēre
]
'languishing
—
adj
'languishingly
—
adv
'languishment
—
n
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
languish
c.1300, from languiss-, pp. stem of O.Fr. languir "be listless," from V.L. *languire, from L. languere "be weak or faint" (see
lax
). Related: Languished; languishing.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
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Languish
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Languish
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Matching Quote
"Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings
languish
, may not become picturesque through aerial distance! What hymning of cancerous vices may we not
languish
over as sublimest art in the safe remoteness of a strange language and artificial phrase! Yet we keep a repugnance to rheumatism and other painful effects when presented in our personal experience."
-George Eliot
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