Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday November 20, 2001
languid \LANG-gwid\ , adjective:
1. Drooping or flagging from or as if from exhaustion; weak; weary; heavy.
2. Promoting or indicating weakness or heaviness.
3. Slow; lacking vigor or force.
Deliberately languid, slow to rise to a dignified height,his handsomely graying wavy hair perfectly combed, Floyd sitsmost of the day with his long legs sprawled under his table.
-- William S. McFeely, Proximity to Death
. . .in the languid heat of Rome, late summer, late afternoon.
-- Matthew Stadler, Allan Stein
With their strength, grace, and endurance, [they] move about naturally, freely, at a tempo determined by climate and tradition, somewhat languid, unhurried, knowing one can never achieve everything in life anyway, and besides, if one did, what would be left over for others?
-- Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Shadow of the Sun (translated by Klara Glowczewska)
Languid comes from Latin languere, "to become faint or weak; to droop; to be inactive."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for languid
