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Definition of Languish
1. Verb. Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief. "After her husband died, she just pined away"
2. Verb. Have a desire for something or someone who is not present. "I am pining for my lover"
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"
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
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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