languor

[ lang-ger ]

noun

1. lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.
2. lack of spirit or interest; listlessness; stagnation.
3. physical weakness or faintness.
4. emotional softness or tenderness.

languor

/ ˈlæŋɡə /

noun

1. physical or mental laziness or weariness
2. a feeling of dreaminess and relaxation
3. oppressive silence or stillness

Word History and Origins

Origin of languor¹

1250–1300; < Latin ( languish, -or ¹ ); replacing Middle English langour sickness, woe < Old French < Latin

Word History and Origins

Origin of languor¹

C14 langour, via Old French from Latin languor, from languēre to languish; the modern spelling is directly from Latin

Example Sentences

Along with stirring up these painful memories, the fall also signals the end of summer’s languor.

From Los Angeles Times

The verdict shattered a late afternoon languor inside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump’s trial had played out over the last month and a half, during which time the jury heard a sweeping and sometimes sordid tale of sex, payoffs and presidential politics.

From New York Times

Whether nauseatingly explicit or eerily suggestive, the murders shock less for their punishing particulars than for the dreamy languor with which they’re enacted and filmed.

From New York Times

The feud between wealthy neighbors is emblematic of the city’s languor when it comes to building anything.

From New York Times

Shooting in wide-angled long takes that range in tenor from voyeuristic languor to nerve-shredding anxiety, he transforms a domestic horror exercise into another Soderberghian tour de force.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• inactivity
• tiredness