MEANING
1. To remain in an unpleasant, neglected, or inactive condition for a prolonged time.
2. To lose strength or vitality, especially through illness, neglect, or prolonged suffering.
3. To feel prolonged, sorrowful longing for someone or something absent.
Use it for
Prolonged confinement, neglected projects, vitality draining over time.Turn suffering into duration rather than a sudden shock.
Words that belong together
- languish in captivity
- languish unattended
- languish for years
On the page
He languished in a cell while appeals gathered dust.
The restoration plan languished for twenty years.
Without visitors, the old collection languished in an unheated room.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- languish / languishes
- Past tense
- languished
- Past participle
- languished
- Present participle
- languishing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- languish / languishes
- Present continuous
- am/is/are languishing
- Present perfect
- have/has languished
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been languishing
- Past
- languished
- Past continuous
- was/were languishing
- Past perfect
- had languished
- Past perfect continuous
- had been languishing
- Future
- will languish / languishes
- Future continuous
- will be languishing
- Future perfect
- will have languished
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been languishing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Often with in: languish in prison. Can mean pine with longing, but not simply relax. Verb: languish, languishes, languished, languished, languishing.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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