Definition of Languish

1. Verb. Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief. "After her husband died, she just pined away"

Exact synonyms: Pine Away, Waste
Generic synonyms: Weaken
Derivative terms: Languisher, Wastage

2. Verb. Have a desire for something or someone who is not present. "I am pining for my lover"
Exact synonyms: Ache, Pine, Yearn, Yen
Specialized synonyms: Die
Generic synonyms: Hanker, Long, Yearn
Derivative terms: Pining, Yearner, Yearning, Yen

3. Verb. Become feeble. "The prisoner has be languishing for years in the dungeon"
Exact synonyms: Fade
Generic synonyms: Degenerate, Deteriorate, Devolve, Drop
Derivative terms: Fading, Languisher

Definition of Languish

1. v. i. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade.

2. v. i. To cause to droop or pine.

3. n. See Languishment.

Definition of Languish

1. Verb. (intransitive) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

2. Verb. (intransitive) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness. (defdate from 14th c.) ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions. (defdate from 15th c.) ¹

4. Verb. (intransitive) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful. (defdate from 17th c.) ¹

5. Verb. (transitive, obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate. (defdate 15th-17th c.) ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive now rare) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously. (defdate from 18th c.) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Languish

1. to lose vigor or vitality [v -ED, -ING, -ES]

Medical Definition of Languish

1. 1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade. "We . . . Do languish of such diseases." (2 Esdras viii. 31) "Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me landguish into life." (Pope) "For the fields of Heshbon languish." (Is. Xvi. 8) 2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. Synonym: To pine, wither, fade, droop, faint. Origin: OE. Languishen, languissen, F. Languir, L. Languere; cf. Gr. To slacken, slack, Icel. Lakra to lag behind; prob. Akin to E. Lag, lax, and perh. To E. Slack.See -ish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Languish

languagelike
languages
languaging
langue
langued
languente
langues
languet
languets
languette
languettes
languid
languidly
languidness
languidnesses
languish (current term)
languished
languisher
languishers
languishes
languishing
languishingly
languishment
languishments
languishness
languisht
languor
languorous
languorously
languorousness

Literary usage of Languish

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Poetical Works of John Dryden by John Dryden (1909)
"With kind and amorous anguish, To sigh, to look, to languish, ... The fainting Saxons quit their ground; Their trumpets languish in the sound; ю They fly, ..."

2. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1892)
"Mrs. Sullen, Bisarre, Lydia languish, Nell in the 'Devil to Pay,' and most leading comic parts were assigned to her, as well as William in 'Rosina' and ..."

3. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language by Walter William Skeat (1893)
"See languish. Der. languid-ly, languid-ness. languish, to become enfeebled, pine, ... stem, of près. part, of languir, ' to languish, pine ; ' Cot. ..."

4. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1911)
"... ала for eighteen years were allowed to languish in Portuguese prisons. After the expulsion of the missionaries the industries established by them were ..."

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