languish

[ lang-gwish ]

verb (used without object)

1. to be or become weak or feeble; droop; fade:

   Whether the plant thrives or languishes and dies is heavily dependent on the climate.

2. to lose vigor and vitality:

   Though she was once full of energy, her illness had caused her to languish.

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.
6. to assume an expression of tender, sentimental melancholy.

noun

1. Archaic. the act or state of being neglected, losing vigor, or becoming weak.
2. Archaic. a tender, melancholy look or expression.

languish

/ ˈlæŋɡwɪʃ /

verb

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

Derived Forms

• ˈlanguishing, adjective
• ˈlanguishingly, adverb
• ˈlanguishment, noun

Other Words From

• lan·guish·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of languish¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Middle French languiss-, long stem of languir, from Latin languēre “to languish”; akin to laxus lax; -ish ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of languish¹

C14 languishen, from Old French languiss-, stem of languir, ultimately from Latin languēre

Example Sentences

Other journalists and opposition activists languish in prison on similar charges.

From The Daily Beast

Common sense, uncontroversial ideas tend to languish when attention has moved elsewhere.

From The Daily Beast

Some of the authors most revered by their contemporaries now languish in relative obscurity.

From The Daily Beast

Critical journalists continue to languish in prison and inside the courtrooms the breadth of the clampdown is on full display.

From The Daily Beast

They see people just like them being elevated quickly to power while they languish, and they become envious.

From The Daily Beast

If one could languish through life in the shell of a mere beauty that life would be a good deal simpler proposition than it is.

From Project Gutenberg

If a man be poor who wishes to have everything, then an ambitious and a miserly man languish in extreme poverty.

From Project Gutenberg

You who will not wish to see her languish—suffer—go mad—Thomas, I am not the raving being you take me for.

From Project Gutenberg

Their kings are without power and without glory; their subjects languish in indigence and wretchedness.

From Project Gutenberg

She would be left to languish and die in some awful Moorish prison.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• deteriorate
• dwindle
• fail
• faint
• rot
• suffer
• weaken
• wither