Definitions for languish
ˈlæŋ gwɪʃlan·guish

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pine away, waste, languishverb

   lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief

   "After her husband died, she just pined away"

2. ache, yearn, yen, pine, languishverb

   have a desire for something or someone who is not present

   "She ached for a cigarette"; "I am pining for my lover"

3. languish, fadeverb

   become feeble

   "The prisoner has be languishing for years in the dungeon"

GCIDERate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Languishverb

   To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. Tennyson.3. To be neglected and unattended to; as, the proposal languished on the director's desk for months.

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. languishverb

   To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.

2. languishverb

   To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.

   He languished without his girlfriend

3. languishverb

   To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.

   He languished in prison for years

4. languishverb

   To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.

   The case languished for years before coming to trial.

5. languishverb

   To make weak; to weaken, devastate.

6. languishverb

   To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.

7. Etymology: From the participle stem of and languir, from languire, alteration of languere. Compare languor.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Languishnoun

   Soft appearance.

   Etymology: from the verb.

   And the blue languish of soft Allia’s eye. Alexander Pope.

   Then forth he walks,
   Beneath the trembling languish of her beam,
   With soften’d soul. James Thomson, Spring, l. 1035.

2. To Languishverb

   Etymology: languir, French; langueo, Latin.

   1. To grow feeble; to pine away; to lose strength.

   Let her languish
   A drop of blood a-day; and, being aged,
   Die of this folly. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

   We and our fathers do languish of such diseases. 2 Esdr.

   What can we expect, but that her languishings should end in death. Decay of Piety.

   His sorrows bore him off; and softly laid
   His languish’d limbs upon his homely bed. John Dryden, Æn.

   2. To be no longer vigorous in motion; not to be vivid in appearance.

   The troops with hate inspir’d,
   Their darts with clamour at a distance drive,
   And only keep the languish’d war alive. John Dryden, Æn.

   3. To sink or pine under sorrow, or any slow passion.

   What man who knows
   What woman is, yea, what she cannot chuse
   But must be, will his free hours languish out
   For assur’d bondage. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.

   The land shall mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein languish. Hos. iv. 3.

   I have been talking with a suitor here,
   A man that languishes in your displeasure. William Shakespeare, Othello.

   I was about fifteen when I took the liberty to chuse for myself, and have ever since languished under the displeasure of an inexorable father. Joseph Addison, Spectator, №. 181.

   Let Leonora consider, that, at the very time in which she languishes for the loss of her deceased lover, there are persons just perishing in a shipwreck. Joseph Addison, Spect. №. 163.

   4. To look with softness or tenderness.

   What poems think you soft, and to be read
   With languishing regards, and bending head? Dryden.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Languishverb

   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. Languishverb

   to assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy

3. Languishverb

   to cause to droop or pine

4. Languishnoun

   see Languishiment

5. Etymology: [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.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Languish

   lang′gwish, v.i. to become languid or enfeebled: to lose strength and animation: to pine: to become dull, as of trade.—n. (Shak.) languishment.—adjs. Lang′uished, sunken in languor; Lang′uishing, expressive of languor, or merely sentimental emotion.—adv. Lang′uishingly.—n. Lang′uishment, the act or state of languishing: tenderness of look. [Fr. languir, languiss-,—L. languescĕre—languēre, to be faint.]

Matched Categories

1. • Long

How to pronounce languish?

1. Alex

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How to say languish in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of languish in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of languish in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of languish in a Sentence

1. President Yoshihiro Nishiyama:

   Copper prices will continue to languish this year, hovering between the current level and $5,500 a tonne.

2. Sheriff Brad Swain:

   There was grazing ability outside the barn. However, they were left to languish within their stalls from what it appears to be.

3. Pete Mercurio:

   She was able to make quick decisions to place that baby in a pre-adoptive home as quickly as possible, so he didn't languish in the system.

4. Ritchie Torres:

   We can let children languish in povertythat's going to haunt them for the rest of their lives orwe can give them a fighting chance, i prefer the latter, but that's a value judgment.

5. Natasha Alexenko:

   The thought of even being in the same room as those people gives me goose bumps. I'd burst into tears of gratitude, how can you begin to say thank you for that? And what an insult to that ingenuity that we're just letting these kits languish.

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