adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Lacking flow or motion, and thus usually not fresh or healthy; decaying through stillness.

   "a stagnant pool    stagnant water"

2. 2
   Without activity, change or progress, or excitement in an unhealthy manner; inactive, stale. figuratively

   "a stagnant economy    stagnant prices"

Adjective

1. 1
   not growing or changing; without force or vitality wordnet
2. 2
   not circulating or flowing wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

standingabeyantapatheticbenumbedblasebored

Antonyms

All antonyms

flowgrowwindflowing

Example

More examples

"I always have to check my yard for stagnant pools of water so mosquitoes don't breed there."

Etymology

From French stagnant, from Latin stagnans, present participle of stagno (“to form a pool of standing water”).

Related phrases

stagnant hypoxiastagnant icestagnant loop syndrome

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.