stagnation

Syllables: stag·nat·ionUK/stæɡˈneɪʃn̩/US/stæɡˈneɪʃən/

stagnation noun: the state of lacking flow or motion, usually causing a lack of freshness or health; (countable) an instance of this.

Image: Tiphabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

stagnation (countable and uncountable, plural stagnations)

(uncountable) The state of lacking flow or motion, usually causing a lack of freshness or health; (countable) an instance of this.
- Factors known to encourage the growth of harmful bacteria inside cooling systems include the stagnation of the water.
- [S]ometimes at the Bottom of the Deep vvaters there ſeem'd to be a ſtagnation of the Sea for a great depth, ſo that till ſuch a height they [divers] could riſe directly upvvards, but that at other heights they vvould be carried avvay by the leſſe deep-vvaters; ſo as to be found vvhen they came to...1671, Robert Boyle, “Relations about the Bottom of the Sea. The Third Section.”, in Tracts […]. About the Cosmicall Qualities of Things. […], London: […] W[illiam] H[all] for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC...
Synonyms:

restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy
(figuratively, uncountable) The state of lacking activity, change or progress, or excitement in an unhealthy manner; inactivity, staleness; (countable) an instance of this.
- The general concern about industrial stagnation inspired an overhaul of the patent system.
- I am now in the sixty-fifth year of my age, and having been the greater part of my days a man of pleasure, the decay of my faculties is a stagnation of my life.1712 January 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “THURSDAY, December 28, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 260; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […]...
Synonyms:

restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy
(figuratively, uncountable) The state of low or no growth in an economy; (countable) an instance of this.
- [T]he Credit Cycle, though guilty of disastrous excesses and grave crimes, has a part to play in a progressive society, and […] an attempt to check it altogether might produce stagnation as well as stability.1930, John Maynard Keynes, “Some Special Aspects of the Credit Cycle”, in A Treatise on Money […], volume I (The Pure Theory of Money), London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, book IV (The Dynamics of...
Synonyms:

restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy

stagnation meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

stagnation in Hindi

state of lacking flow or motion, usually causing a lack of freshness or health; an instance of this: गतिहीनता gatihīntā

stagnation in Tamil

தேக்கமுறுதல், தேக்கம், முடக்கம், இயங்கா நிலை, செயல்படா நிலை, ஓடா நிலை

stagnation in Telugu

స్తబ్దత

More languagesFewer languages

stagnation in Malayalam: സ്തംഭനാവസ്ഥ stambhanāvastha, കെട്ടിക്കിടക്കൽ keṭṭikkiṭakkal, നിശ്ചലത niścalata
stagnation in Odia: ସ୍ଥବିରତା
stagnation in Arabic: رُكُود rukūd, ركود اقتصادي
stagnation in Indonesian: stagnasi, stagnasi ekonomi, kepegunan ekonomi
stagnation in Vietnamese: đình đốn, đình trệ, đình trệ kinh tế

Examples of stagnation in a sentence

If the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; but stagnation turneth it into a noisome puddle: […]a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “Sermon L. Of Industry in General.”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume III, London...
Large-scale weather conditions known as stagnations (slow-moving high-pressure systems) are characterised by a combination of low wind speed and very limjited vertical mixing.1976 November, Donald F. Gatz; Stanley A. Changnon, Jr., “Meteorological Influences on Air Pollutant Concentrations”, in Environmental...
After a month of trivialities and stagnation the wheels move once more.1922 February–March, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Problem of Thor Bridge”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi]...

All 12 example sentences with stagnation

Synonyms of stagnation

Forms of stagnation

plural	stagnations

Origin of stagnation

From stagnate + -ation (suffix denoting an action or process, or its result), Stagnate is derived from stagnāt-, the participial stem of Latin stagnāre, the present active infinitive of stāgnō (“of waters: to cover the land as a lake, to become a pool, to stagnate”), from stāgnum (“body of standing water (lake, swamp, etc.)”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂g- (“to drip; to seep”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

Words formed from stagnation

Phrases with stagnation

stagnation points

Words that rhyme with stagnation

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about stagnation

What does stagnation mean?: Stagnation means the state of lacking flow or motion, usually causing a lack of freshness or health; (countable) an instance of this.
What is stagnation in Hindi?: Stagnation in Hindi is गतिहीनता (gatihīntā). See Stagnation meaning in Hindi.
How do you use stagnation in a sentence?: If the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; but stagnation turneth it into a noisome puddle: […]
What part of speech is stagnation?: Stagnation is a noun.
How do you pronounce stagnation?: Stagnation is pronounced /stæɡˈneɪʃn̩/ (UK).
What is the plural of stagnation?: The plural of stagnation is stagnations.

Words near stagnation in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: stagnation (page history and authors); stagnation (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stagnation (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stagnation (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stagnation (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-stagnation.wav.

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