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

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

But despite reminding those who mention the Jedi and its protocols that the Order no longer exists, this Ahsoka certainly behaves like one to the point of almost verging into languor.

From Salon

Not coincidentally pro football only took off as a national sport during the late ’50s and ’60s when it embraced television, which marketed football’s brutality as a counterweight to baseball’s languor.

From New York Times

Related Words

• inactivity
• tiredness