Word.ws English Dictionary

languish

Syllables: lan·guish/ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/

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

Verb

languish (third-person singular simple present languishes, present participle languishing, simple past and past participle languished)

  1. (intransitive) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
    • We […] do languish of such diseases.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Esdras 8:31
  2. (intransitive) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
    • He languished without his girlfriend.
  3. (intransitive) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.
    • He languished in prison for years.
    • An elderly Hungarian found languishing in a Russian mental hospital could finally be allowed to return home - 55 years after being taken prisoner by the Russian Army.2000 August 2, “Hungarian POW to go home after 55 years”, in BBC News
    Synonyms:
    rot
  4. (intransitive) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.
    • The case languished for years before coming to trial.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
  6. (archaic, intransitive) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.
    • 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.1815, Jane Austen, Emma
    • His bowstring slackened, languid Love, / Leaning his cheek upon his hand, / Droops both his wings, regarding thee, / And so would languish evermore, / Serene, imperial Eleänore.a. 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Eleänore”, in Poems, page 31

languish meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

languish in Tamil

ஏங்கு, செயலிழ, சோர்வடை, நலிவுறு, மெலிவுறு, தளர்வுறு

languish in Urdu

گھلنا, جھکنا, کملانا, ماند پڑنا, مجہول ہو جانا, مردہ دل ہونا

languish in Malayalam

മെലിയുക, തളരുക, ക്ഷീണിക്കുക

languish in Kannada

ದುಃಸ್ಥಿತಿಯಲ್ಲಿರು, ಸುರುಗು, ಸೊರಹು, ಸೊರಗು, ಕೊರಗು, ಕುಗ್ಗಿಹೋಗು
More languagesFewer languages
languish in Gujarati
ઝરવું jharvũ
languish in Arabic
فَتَرَ fatara, ضَعُفَ ḍaʕufa, قَبَعَ qabaʕa, أُهْمِلَ ʔuhmila
languish in Persian
رنجور شدن ranjur šodan, بیحال شدن bi-hâl šodan, در حسرت سوختن dar hasrat suxtan, ذله شدن zelle šodan

Examples of languish in a sentence

  • Would he let others toil to support him while he languished all afternoon over his sestinas?
  • But languish not to alter, Where to fantasticise would be to falter, To falter weakly, unachieving change.
  • How long does a trend have to languish before Hollywood seizes it as its own fresh discovery?

All 25 example sentences with languish

Synonyms of languish

Forms of languish

third-person singular presentlanguishes
present participlelanguishing
past participlelanguished
pastlanguished

Past tense of languish: languished

Origin of languish

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, languid and lax. : Cognate with slack.

Words formed from languish

Words that rhyme with languish

Questions about languish

What does languish mean?
Languish means to lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
What is languish in Tamil?
Languish in Tamil is ஏங்கு, செயலிழ, சோர்வடை. See Languish meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is languish?
Languish is a verb.
How do you pronounce languish?
Languish is pronounced /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/.
What is the past tense of languish?
The past tense of languish is languished.

Words near languish in the dictionary

  1. languid schizoid
  2. languidity
  3. languidly
  4. languidness
  5. languids
  6. languish
  7. languished
  8. languisher
  9. languishers
  10. languishes
  11. languishest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: languish (page history and authors); languish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); languish (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); languish (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); languish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ઝરવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-languish.wav.

Cite this entry: “languish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/languish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.