Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To be or become weak or feeble; lose strength or vigor.
- intransitive verb To exist or continue in miserable or disheartening conditions.
- intransitive verb To remain unattended or be neglected.
- intransitive verb To become downcast or pine away in longing.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To become weak or spiritless; become listless or sad; lose strength or animation; pine: as, to
languish in solitude. - To droop, wither, or fade, as a plant, from heat, drought, neglect, or other unfavorable conditions.
- To grow feeble or dull; lose activity and vigor; dwindle; fall off: as, the war languished for lack of supplies; manufactures languished.
- To act languidly; present or assume a languid appearance or expression, especially as an indication of tender or enervating emotion.
- Synonyms To decline, faint, fail.
- To cause to droop or fail.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Obs. or Poetic See
languishment . - intransitive verb obsolete To cause to droop or pine.
- intransitive verb To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to linger in a weak or deteriorating condition; to wither or fade.
- intransitive verb To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy.
- intransitive verb To be neglected and unattended to.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
- verb become feeble
- verb have a desire for something or someone who is not present
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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V. ii.42 (250,7) rids our dogs of languish] For _languish_, I think we may read, _anguish_.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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Predicting that recent volatility in such flows will continue or even increase, RBS anticipates that the rupee may "languish" in the 46 rupees-47. 50 rupees range over the next three months, with an upside bias for the dollar.
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I was, you know, spending a lot of time -- when you're a stand-up comedian, you have 23 hours of the day to just kind of languish and wait for the gig and do a little writing.
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This, while nearly three billion human beings subsist (or "languish") on less than $2 a day.
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I was, you know, spending a lot of time -- when you're a stand-up comedian, you have 23 hours of the day to just kind of languish and wait for the gig and do a little writing.
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I mean the fact that this has been accomplished in two years time, because John Paul II was put on the fast track, and they put a lot of people on this project but there are plenty of others who kind of languish in obscurity.
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We have seen things like Project Exile really kind of languish under the Clinton-Gore administration.
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While cases would "languish" in the Rota, the CDF handled cases "expeditiously, fairly, and with due regard to the rights of all the parties involved."
Latest Articles cna 2010
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While cases would "languish" in the Rota, the CDF handled cases "expeditiously, fairly, and with due regard to the rights of all the parties involved."
Latest Articles cna 2010
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If not, he warns, Paris will "languish" like a "cancerous cell unable to grow".
The Times of India 2010
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