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Languish

verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness. intransitive

    "We […] do languish of such diseases."

  2. 2
    become feeble wordnet
  3. 3
    To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness. intransitive

    "He languished without his girlfriend."

  4. 4
    lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief wordnet
  5. 5
    To live in miserable or disheartening conditions. intransitive

    "He languished in prison for years."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    have a desire for something or someone who is not present wordnet
  2. 7
    To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful. intransitive

    "The case languished for years before coming to trial."

  3. 8
    To make weak; to weaken, devastate. obsolete, transitive
  4. 9
    To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously. archaic, intransitive

    "He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal."

Etymology

From Middle English languysshen, from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman and Middle French languir, from Late Latin languīre, alteration of Latin languēre (“to be faint, unwell”). : Compare languor and lax. : Cognate with slack.

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