languish
Americanverb (used without object)
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languishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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languished,
past participle, past
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languishing
present participle
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to be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade.
Whether the plant thrives or languishes and dies is heavily dependent on the climate.
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to lose vigor and vitality.
Though she was once full of energy, her illness had caused her to languish.
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to undergo neglect or experience prolonged inactivity; suffer hardship and distress.
to languish in prison for ten years.
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to be subjected to delay or disregard; be ignored.
a petition that languished on the warden's desk for a year.
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to pine with desire or longing.
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to assume an expression of tender, sentimental melancholy.
noun
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Archaic. the act or state of being neglected, losing vigor, or becoming weak.
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Archaic. a tender, melancholy look or expression.
verb
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to lose or diminish in strength or energy
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(often foll by for) to be listless with desire; pine
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to suffer deprivation, hardship, or neglect
to languish in prison
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to put on a tender, nostalgic, or melancholic expression
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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languishsimple
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languishessimple
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have languishedperfect
-
has languishedperfect
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am languishingprogressive
-
are languishingprogressive
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is languishingprogressive
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have been languishingperfect progressive
-
has been languishingperfect progressive
Past
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languishedsimple
-
had languishedperfect
-
was languishingprogressive
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were languishingprogressive
-
had been languishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of languish
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Middle French languiss-, long stem of languir, from Latin languēre “to languish”; akin to laxus lax; see -ish 2
Explanation
To languish is to become pitiful or weak because you're sick, in love, or stuck somewhere. A prisoner might languish in jail, longing for her freedom. Languish, like languid, is from the Latin word languere which means "to be weak or faint." Your houseplants might languish in a dark dry corner. A Romantic poet might languish on a velvet couch with the back of her hand to her forehead. People in operas love to languish: The main character in La Traviata, Violetta, languishes from longing and eventually tuberculosis.
Vocabulary lists containing languish
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Refugee
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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.
See Examples For:
Hunter said: "We know that excess mortality happens when you languish on a hospital trolley."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Local activists told a different story: It was kids’ prolonged isolation from their families that caused them to languish.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Those of us who languish in the academic wasteland are too tardy to lament, so little has changed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Many celebrity homes that languish on the market are caused by overpricing, as in the Baldwins’ case, or over-personalization, as with Jordan’s sports palace.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
That was why she had let him languish here, ignoring the urgent commands he had sent her.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
As a slideshow prepared by an executive explained, “We thrive in the valley of death,” the term for the bureaucratic gap where research languishes without being developed into a product.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
When companies purchased via buyout funds cannot be sold on, investor capital languishes in such funds for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Official readouts and state media reports have not said whether Xi and Kim discussed North Korea's nuclear weapons development, for which Pyongyang languishes under international sanctions.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
Jenner is likely taking a significant financial hit on the property as it languishes on the market.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026
At this point the house comes in view, and conversation languishes.
From Mrs. Geoffrey by Duchess
The billionaire had sought to get Universal listed in the U.S., saying its stock price had languished.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Nepalis have complained that some Chinese-linked projects have languished, while others, such as Pokhara International Airport, have been mired in corruption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Yet meaningful, comprehensive control of AI both on the battlefield and off has languished, largely because trust between governments and understanding of the technology and its risks is lacking, Russell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
He languished with Memphis and Washington after consistently contributing to playoff runs with Boston.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
That the telescope flourished and the microscope languished is one of the signs that the Scientific Revolution can properly be understood as a revolution—that is, a revolt against a previous order.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Reports that the Walt Disney Company is poised to lay off thousands of workers didn’t seem to move the needle for its languishing stock on Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
Its stock-market value, too, was languishing at a large discount to book, and even below the value of its goodwill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Human rights groups and legal experts have also raised concerns about delays in investigations and trials that lead to people languishing for years behind bars.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Meager revenues and languishing interest so many years after the league’s 1997 launch meant that some investors wanted out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Maybe all hospitals should import groups of rabble-rousing punk rockers to kick-start the languishing patients’ hearts.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
